The World Against Antarctica
by DragonFire0102
Summary: To their best ability, the Countries have been living in nearly perfect harmony. However, they are astonished to find that Antarctica has broken away and declared mutiny. The World must come and work together in order to defeat Antarctica and her nearly unstoppable penguin army - before its too late.
1. The Traitor

**Hello, viewers! I thank you for reading this, and I hope that you enjoy what is my first real fanfic I have ever written.**

 **Disclaimer : I own no part of Hetalia in any way, shape, or form.**

 _At the Conference Room..._

It was nearly 10 minutes into the almost daily meeting for the Countries, sunlight streaming in through the giant windows, birds chirping merrily outside... and already they were about to tear each other's throats out.

"I need a Grade A hamburger, pronto!" cried America, who was suffering from a major burger withdrawal. Recently, California and New York had a huge fight on which was a better state, and he had spent nearly all week keeping them from bashing each other's brains out. Again.

"Shut up!" snapped England, tired of America's incessant groveling. "We need to discuss more important things than your endless stomach!"

"What the cheesy dibbles is more important that my stomach?" said America, slightly offended.

Meanwhile, Italy silently shoveled food into his mouth. He had snuck in ANOTHER huge tupperware of the finest spaghetti, and was thoughtfully chewing it, sauce dripping down his chin, trying to think of what else he could put on a pizza that would actually be good.

"I told you, Italy, not to eat in the Conference room! We just got the new carpet installed!" complained England. He ignored him, as usual.

Germany snapped back at everyone. "EVERYBODY, SHUT YOUR FACES! THIS IS SUPPOSED TO BE A PEACEFUL MEETING! WE NEED TO GET BACK IN ORDER!" The Countries stared at each other in silence. Then they broke out into more bickering.

"Guys, guys, can't we stop and talk in peace?" quietly asked Canada, one of the only level - headed person in the room. "I mean, if we just sat down and just were civilized, that would make this the fourth meeting in a row to not have any physical injuries! A new record, eh?!" Of course, as usual, nobody paid any attention to poor Canada, who went back to silently reading his book (War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy [his favorite book that he's read at least 42 times - he deeply recommends it for you young readers]), despite all the noise in the room.

Finally, after about another 15 minutes of arguing, screaming, and airborne mangoes (therefore forfeiting the chance of a new record), the room settled down. Pausing to delicately sip from his tea cup, England cleared his throat.

"Status report: America, you go first."

America huffed in annoyance. "Everything's lovely. JUST lovely. California and New York are at it again, but I can handle them. However, someone painted the faces of Mount Rushmore with handlebar mustaches, top hats, and monocles in blue spray paint!"

England sighed in exasperation, already beginning to see where this meeting was heading. "Ok, who did it? Confess now or else I will find out and send Hungary after you." Everyone shuddered, looking at Hungary near the end of the long table. Her pearly white teeth shined as she swung her frying pan in the air.

Canada gulped a little, shrinking into his seat, and slowly raised his hand. "...I did. I defaced the grand Mount Rushmore."

"Who's that guy?" whispered Bulgaria to Romania. "I don't think I've ever seen him. Did England take over some more and made it a new country or something?" He wasn't the only Country who had no clue who Canada was. Including America.

"Hey, I don't have a clue who you are, but it doesn't matter. NO ONE defaces my property!" he exclaimed.

"He's your brother Canada," England said impatiently. "He's been a Country for nearly 145 years now."

"Oh, of course," sighed America, a bit surprised at the fact that he even had a brother. "Canada, Canada, bro. Even if I had no idea who you are, I have a feeling we could not only be siblings, but also possibly best friends. However, the first rule of friendship is that you do not deface the greatest leaders of all time! IT IS A NATIONAL SYMBOL OF MY COUNTRY!"

"Not to mention a rock," muttered France, rolling his eyes at the spectacle. America whipped around to face him, face red with his seething.

"Well, my 'rock' can kick the Eiffel Tower's butt!"

France stood up to meet America in the face. "You did NOT just say that! Take it back!"

"America, go to the Tantrum room and calm yourself down!" commanded England, completely done with his hysterical teenage girl-like attitude. America, who had finished his angry rant, slinked through the door into a small, square room filled with nothing but mirrors, meant to shame the visitor for exploding in what was supposed to be a so-called "peaceful" meeting. Nearly every Country had visited the Tantrum room at least once.

"And Canada, you are expected to clean up Mount Rushmore and write a sincere apology note to America in 2 days," informed England.

"But, why can't America do it? I mean, all he does is eat hamburgers and obsess over Superman, eh!" cried Canada, trying to sound angry. The Countries all watched in fascination of the nature of this new "stranger." England shot a look at Hungary, and she grinned a little bit wider, swinging her pan at an astounding speed. Canada sighed and nodded, sinking down into his seat even more.

"Well," England said, "anybody else want to confess to defacing another Country's rock? No one? Good. Let's get started. WITHOUT head injuries, thank you very much."

 _Half an hour later..._

"Meh," said Lithuania, who was busy trying to catch Belarus's attention a few seats down, and failing miserably. She glared at him with a fury that made all the Countries shiver and shrink away from her pointy, sharp nails and hostile eyes.

"Hmph," he continued. "Why do we even go to these daily meetings? What's the point?"

"The point is," replied England, "to unify our brothers -"

"And sisters!" called out Lichtenstein, her purple ribbon falling in her face.

"And sisters," continued England, slightly annoyed, "so that all the Countries can live in peace and harmony." Lithuania gave him a look. "Fine, and also because our bosses are forcing us to. Happy?"

Lithuania huffed. "No. They're too boring. Greece fell asleep, China just ate a whole box of fruit snacks, and Denmark's raiding the soda stash again." China silently crumpled all 10 wrappers in his hand as they all turned to the back room entrance, where they could all see Denmark kneeling in front of the small, silver fridge, filling a giant burlap bag with Sprite, Mountain Dew, and Root Beer. He glanced up, waved at all of them cheerily, and continued shoving them in, stopping for a moment to guzzle down a soda can in approximately 27 seconds.

Shaking his head but giving no further scoldings, England said, "Lithuania, unless you want tea spewing out of your shower head, I suggest you stay."

Lithuania's eyes widened and shook his head, remembering the last time he had skipped the meeting in favor of a hockey game. The following day he had turned on his shower only to find rotten, smelly compost tea being dumped on his head. It took a week to get the stench out of his locks. The others glanced at each other, remembering the time before that Iceland hadn't been present, and later found tea absolutely soaking his mattress.

England smiled a bit evilly and looked around. "Speaking of attendance, where is Antarctica? She was here last week." The other Countries grinned at the thought of Antarctica being bombarded by gallons of tea in some way.

All of a sudden, the projector screen at the front of the room turned on, with no one having touched the remote. Everyone turned to it, only to find Antarctica smiling, stroking a penguin.

Antarctica's icy blue eyes glittered with slight amusement. She sat at her desk, sitting in a simple, rolly chair. In the background, the Countries could see her living room filled with not only white, pristine couches and a huge entertainment center, but also about 13 other penguins waddling around. Her white, translucent long hair wisped around her rounded face. Despite the obvious below 0 degree weather, she only wore some shorts and a blue tank top, showing no reaction to the chilly temperature.

England stood up to meet the screen. "Where have you been, Antarctica? I know where you live. You know the protocol - I will be visiting sometime soon. Do you prefer green or black tea?"

Antarctica laughed, her voice ringing throughout the Conference room. It was soft, even melodic, except for the underlying edge of danger. "Oh, England, you ignorant. Little. Moron."

Here, England's face reddened slightly, and opened his mouth, but Antarctica waved her perfect, delicate little hand, signaling for him to be quiet.

"I am here to announce my mutiny," she chirped brightly. The Countries all gasped in unison, except for Greece, who jolted a bit and relaxed, snoring gently."I am done with you. I mean, last week we were discussing pollution and how to stop it. In case you guys didn't know, my continent is filled with these adowable," she nuzzled her penguin, which the Countries could make out an "Oreo" engraved on a silver tag strung around his neck like a collar, "innowcent, wittle penguins!"

But," her eyes glimmered with malice, "innocent no more, for they shall be my new army! Prepare for battle, Countries!"

Cryptus raised his hand and said politely, "Um, I'm all for war and everything," - the Countries knew this was a lie - "but how did you know to come on the screen when England asked where you were?"

"Oh," she replied, joy and amusement dancing through her voice, "I rigged up a camera in the corner by the sign up poster last week! And Cuba, picking your nose can lead to serious issues!" The Countries all looked at the poster, where they could make out a tiny little object embedded at the corner, while Cuba tightened his lips, not saying anything for once.

"Anyway," continued Antarctica, "have a lovely day and continue all your silly little lives! Australia, I'll be coming for you first!" The screen went black again as Australia spluttered while his koala jumped on top of the table, a murderous look on its face. Greece still hadn't woken up during the ordeal, and his quiet snoring was the only sound in the room as all the Countries sat in complete silence. Then England spoke up.

"So... Antarctica's broken the alliance, evil penguins are after Australia, and we are in total danger. Anybody want Chinese takeout?"

 **Any comments, reviews, or feedback of any sort would be very much appreciated! Thank you!**

 **-DragonFire0102**


	2. Lunch

All the Countries sat munching on their noodles and chicken, except for Italy, who had produced ANOTHER large Tupperware container out of nowhere with cheese ravioli patiently waiting to be devoured. They all sat in silence, too stunned by Antarctica's words to chat (or, more often, argue) as they usually did every meeting.

America finally gave up trying to properly use his wooden chopsticks. He stabbed a piece of orange chicken and loudly inhaled the deliciously spicy meat, exaggeratingly smacking his lips. China, Thailand, and all the other Asian Countries glared at him in disgust as he obliviously daydreamed about the perfect hamburger, a culinary impossibility.

"How's the food?" asked Finland lightly, who couldn't stand the silence any longer.

"Awesome!" Prussia exclaimed, and the Countries all chimed in their opinion. America muttered that he would prefer a hamburger, as he always did whenever England ordered in food for the whole group. The Countries resumed to quietly continue eating.

After a few more moments of awkward silence, England set aside his box and cleared his throat.

"So, as most of you all saw," he glared at Greece, who was informed of Antarctica's announcement and was currently nodding off, "we have a problem at hand."

"I'd say it's more than a problem," Netherlands butted in. "We're dealing with penguins. EVIL penguins, to be exact."

"What do you have against penguins?" inquired Poland, a bit scornfully. "I'd think you would be able to take them down, wouldn't you say?"

"You don't know what they're capable of," replied Netherlands darkly.

"Oh, don't I?" Poland rebutted. "I think penguins would only be capable of killing people with cuteness!"

England sighed loudly. "Poland, it seems to me that Netherlands seems to know a great deal more about Antarctica's evil penguins than you do. So kindly go sit down like a good little boy and let the big guys talk without you." Poland's face instantly reddened and excused himself to the bathroom for a moment.

"Well, now that we got some problems out of the way," England said, raising his voice loud enough so that Poland could hear, "what do you know about the so-called evil penguins of Antarctica?"

Netherlands sighed, but secretly felt ecstatic on sharing his story.

"Fine, if you insist. Gather around, everyone!"

England sighed again (he seemed to do that more and more as he spent more time with the Countries) and said impatiently, "We're already gathered. Get to the important details, and hurry up!"

All the Countries leaned near Netherlands, for once all listening without interruption. Even Poland, who had returned from the bathroom, had a look of slight interest, and Greece had woken up from his dreamland to hear the story. His multi colored eyes glittered in excitement as he started the story about his experience with Antarctica's evil penguins.


	3. The Story

**Hello once again! I hope you enjoy this new chapter and, as usual, I don't own any part of Hetalia whatsoever.**

"Once upon a time," said Netherlands, "about a month ago, I was taking care of my pet, Carrot, or the cutest little rabbit in the entire universe."

"Then I remembered that it was March 27, and the following week April would begin, or April Fool's day." England groaned at the thought of what he did to Antarctica on that day.

"Recently, Antarctica had insulted my… actually, she pretty much insulted everything about me." They all gasped, since they knew he didn't like any insults on him, even if... they were true.

"Of course, as you all know," Netherlands said, gazing around the room, making sure that all of them were listening, "I normally don't participate in… well, anything, really, but I thought that Antarctica deserved something for insulting my certain… habits. And of course I knew that Antarctica loved her precious penguins, giving them names and feeding ALL of them everyday. She would hate for ANYTHING to happen to them.

"So, I thought to myself, 'what better way to get back at Antarctica by messing up the things she loved?' or," he beamed a little bit at his ingenuousness, "her penguins?" England stood up, furious with the Country.

"Did you harm any of her stupid penguins?!" he yelled. "That is a violation of the Alliance, and there are no excuses! Not even if she did insult you!"

"No," replied Netherlands calmly, a bit taken back. "All I planned on doing was dressing them up in little tuxedos, because she hates it when I comment on how they look like they're wearing them."

"Sorry for interrupting your lovely story, but isn't there nearly 3.79 million penguins that Antarctica has?" asked Ukraine, slightly concerned. "How in the world did you manage to do that? Not that I'm doubting your abilities or anything like that," she added quickly.

He snorted. "I might be crazy, but not that crazy. No, I planned to only dress the ones she kept in her FREEZING house. So, only about 30 or so."

"But anyway, on the night of the 31st, I snuck in through a window, carrying a sack with the tuxedos. Unfortunately, due to the fact that Antarctica literally does not have any heating in her mansion, it was nearly -45 degrees Celsius! I have no clue how she manages"

"In Fahrenheit, please!" America said a bit scornfully. Netherlands sighed.

"You are so stubborn! Why can't you switch to the metric system like all the rest of us?" America glared at him.

"I just feel like that switching to the metric system might cause an outrage for my people," he said. However, his words were ignored by all, since they all knew the real reason was because America was too lazy to switch in the first place.

"Fine, it's -50 degrees Fahrenheit. Happy?" America harrumphed and nodded.

"I landed in a vacant small bedroom, where only a penguin sat in the corner, snoring away," continued Netherlands. "I didn't even know that penguins could snore! I had brought along a huge package of fish for the little buddies to snack on as I slipped on the tuxedos."

"Wait a minute," interrupted Turkey. "You were infiltrating Antarctica's house and expected her loyal penguins to keep quiet while you put freaking mini tuxedos on them? What were you thinking?! What kind of stupid idiot would do that?!"

Netherlands grinned a bit sheepishly. "Obviously, this stupid idiot. And, well, I was pretty mad at her for insulting me, I will admit. And I thought that all penguins were cute and cuddly and would be really cooperative with me. I thought wrong."

"But as I approached the penguin, it woke up. And I swear it had a look of murder in its eyes. It made this weird honking noise, and the next thing I know, I am surrounded by all the penguins in the house!" exclaimed Netherlands.

"They all circled around me, looking like they were going to bash out my brain. Suddenly one pounced, and they all leapt at me. I, of course, didn't want to hurt the little guys, so I tried not to attack and attempted to run for the window. Unfortunately, several of them were blocking it, so I slid through them and ran to the doorway.

"Most of them followed, and they were, like, ninja penguins! One smacked my face with his little flipper, and several jumped on my back. I could feel them trying to eat through my many layers. Seriously! Nearly tripping on one, I fell, and they all swarmed in. It was lovely. 30 ten pound penguins scrambling all over me. I got scratches and bruises on my arms and legs somehow, despite the fact nearly no skin was showing! But I, fortunately, got up, shook them off, and ran out the door to my helicopter I had taken there."

"How would you manage to take a helicopter and not have Antarctica hear it?" asked England.

"I have a specialized one where it makes literally no noise. I have no clue how, but it works."

"I remember you had scratches and bruises all over you," commented Switzerland. "You said that you bravely fought an angry wolf near your house."

"Yeah, I did say that," he answered "I couldn't just say I had gotten them from evil penguins, now could I? I didn't want to exactly ruin my reputation and make me look bad. However, I still don't know how you guys didn't notice the look on her face. It was pure hatred."

"Eh," said Estonia, shrugging. "She always has a look of pure hatred. Don't feel special."

"Did she mention anything to you about that night?" questioned England.

"She said that she was glad her penguins got a punching bag to practice their moves on. And that if I ever infiltrated her house again she would grind me into dust and feed me to sea lions," answered Netherlands. "So, obviously, I haven't been back."

"Hmm. I would think that since then, Antarctica has been training her penguins for war," said England. "I know what to do now."

"We have to destroy all penguins of Antarctica before she comes for me?" Australia guessed.

"No!" exclaimed England.

"We need to eat hamburgers FIRST, then destroy the penguins of Antarctica before she comes for Australia!" America said knowingly. "Great plan! I call at least 10 hamburgers in advanced!"

England made a small noise in exasperation and said, "No, you bumbling idiots! I mean we should train to get better physically and be able to defeat the penguins! I think that we should at least take five days specifically for training. Hopefully, Antarctica won't attack by then."

"Everybody is going to be back here at the gym, or as known by "the training centre" for the time being, tomorrow at 6 o'clock sharp!" he continued, ignoring the groans. "And if you see any suspicious penguins lurking around, make sure not to try to dress it up in a tuxedo!"

 **Once more... feedback is appreciated. :)**

 **-DragonFire0102**


	4. Partners

**How are you today? Ready for more? :)**

The Next Day...

"Good morning, everybody!" exclaimed England. A medium sized easel looking thing sat silently under a white sheet. He was wearing a karate gi and sneakers (which was a little weird looking, considering, well, England was wearing it), while the other Countries sat criss cross on the blue mats in front of the training centre entrance. They all stared up at him tiredly and bleakly, and Greece was dead asleep, snoring away, as usual. Austria, Hungary, and Germany stood next to England, also wearing karate uniforms.

Austria grimaced a little and looked around in boredom and slight exhaustion. Hungary looked insanely bored and swished around her frying pan, nearly hitting Egypt, who flinched and nearly fell while sitting, somehow. As for Germany, well, he just stood there, in perfect soldier stance, glaring at all the Countries, which woke them all up right away.

Around them was the gym, or as apparently England insisted they called it, the 'training centre.' From behind the mats they were sitting on, the doors to the hallway stood. To either side of the doors were several tables, where multiple water bottles were, and would most likely be used for their lunch. The basketball hoops were raised up, parallel to the ceiling, and England had separated the gym into four slightly uneven sections with blue tape, for some random reason.

"I spent all night figuring out the plan, and here it is!" said England.

"Germany, Austria, Hungary and I will be stationed in the four quadrants of the centre, as you can see I have made. I will split you up in groups, where each will go to a certain person. And within that group, you will be paired with one other country to practice your moves on each other. Hopefully, the partner you receive is sufficient enough. If not, well, sucks for you."

"Keep in mind, try not to inflict any pain on your partner," he said sternly, glancing at some Countries in particular. "It's only for practice. The instructor of the group will demonstrate the moves and techniques, and then you will practice with your partner. The instructor will go around the area, helping you and, well, instructing. Here is the list!" With that, he took off the sheet to let the Countries crowd around the poster to see their training partner and group:

 _ **Training Centre Groups**_

 _England's Area : Russia and New Zealand, Spain and China, Ukraine and North Italy, Bulgaria and Romania, Finland and Liechtenstein, Latvia and Moldova_

 _Austria's Area :_ _Cuba and Monaco, Poland and Korea, Japan and Turkey, Belgium and Greece, Taiwan and Prussia_

 _Hungary's Area :_ _Canada and America, Norway and Denmark, Cyprus and Seychelles, Switzerland and Thailand, Sweden and Macau_

 _Germany's Area :_ _Egypt and Vietnam, Belarus and Lithuania, France and Iceland, Hong Kong and Netherlands, Australia and Estonia_

 _Reminders : Please, no injuring your partner on purpose! And no whining about your pairing, otherwise! Thank you for your time and consideration. -England_

"No!" screamed America at the top of his lungs, his voice echoing throughout the large room. "Why would you do that?! Hello, spray paint?! Top hats and freaking monocles?! And why is Canada first? I'm the older one!" Canada just stared blankly at the list.

"What does the poster say, America?" England said patiently. "No whining about your partner. You shouldn't even be complaining, considering you yourself didn't know you had a brother until yesterday. And, for the record, Canada's name is first because it's in alphabetical order, obviously." The Countries snickered at this comment. America paused for a second, thinking out loud to process that tidbit of information.

"Wait a minute… A, B, C, D, E… 'C' doesn't come before 'A!'" He pointed an accusing finger at England. "You put that idiot in front of me because you favor him more!" Canada shot him an angry look, which he ignored.

"I suppose so," England replied calmly. "So, what is your point again?" America stopped, stumped at that a little."Well, then… what exactly does 'otherwise' imply?" he spluttered hotly.

"Why don't you find out?" England questioned innocently. America gulped and shut up, glaring at Canada. "Anyone else want to question the list?" No Countries said anything, although some of them silently cursed in their head due to their pairing.

"Good. Any more questions in general?"

"Yeah, why are YOU one of the instructors?" blurted out Cuba. "And Austria, too? Seriously, he gets exhausted from tying his shoes or any other 'harder' exercises."

"Well, I chose Austria because he's fairly good at teaching. Obviously, he won't actually be doing any movement to show you how to defend yourself and such, so he has given you the liberty and created a detailed, informative Powerpoint presentation. As for me, well, because. Reasons. Any more questions?"

Monaco raised her hand, and pointed to the gi England was wearing. "Do we need to wear... that?"

He chuckled slightly and replied, "No, no, that's just for show. In all honesty, this is hot!" With that, he slipped it off, revealing a more appropriate outfit of a simple collared shirt and creased pants. All the others did the same, Austria giving a slight sigh of relief.

England started toward his area, calling over his shoulder, "Have fun and we'll meet again at this spot at noon for lunch! And no, America, I will NOT order 10 hamburgers for you, no matter how much I 'owe you' for pairing you up with Canada!"

 **Thanks!**

 **-DragonFire0102**


	5. Training

**Hullo! How are you?**

* * *

 _In Hungary's area..._

"Everybody, take the next 20 minutes to practice blocking with your partner," commanded Hungary, swinging her frying pan through the air, this time "accidently" letting go and whacking Cyprus in the forehead. He immediately fell back onto the mat, leaving Seychelles snickering under her breath.

"Come on, bro," teased America. He just stood there, arms folded and a slight look of amusement on his face. Canada's face was flushed and he held his hands in front of him, somewhat confused, as if he had no idea how to control them or what do with them.

"Why doesn't little Canada take a punch?" he continued, adopting a voice only used for pets and little children. Canada's face reddened even more, if that was even possible. " _I_ would think a country able to DEFACE MOUNT RUSHMORE could at least _try_."

"STOP. IT. NOW," muttered Canada.

"Stop what?" mocked America. "Go on. I can take it. Especially if a little weakling like YOU were to be behind it. Despite what England says, I don't really think you are my sibling. How could a tiny, little, weak guy like you be a brother to this awesome, amazing hero… like _me_?" Canada made a small noise at the bottom of his throat, which might have been a groan, a growl, a grunt, or a combination of all three. All the other Countries stopped what they were doing and turned to watch the spectacle.

"Hurry up!" taunted America. "Punch already! Or are you too scared? That's it- puny Canada's too afraid of hurting his awesome older bro, _eh_?" And that's when he finally snapped.

"THAT'S _MY_ THING, YOU BUMBLING IDIOT!" Canada yelled, fists formed naturally as he swung his arm around to meet America's face. A sickly, dull noise was heard, and he fell backwards, hitting the ground hard, his glasses flying away, snapped in half. The Countries could see a wicked, purple bruise already appearing on America's cheek under his right eye, and blood was dripping from his nose in a thick line.

Canada cradled his hands, a look of slight surprise on his face as he stared at America whimpering on the floor at his feet. Then he turned around on his heel and walked toward the door.

"I'll be in the Tantrum room if anyone needs me," Canada called over his shoulder, a _little_ bit too brightly. The Countries couldn't tell, but the tone in the voice might have indicated he was smiling. The door slammed behind him loudly, echoing throughout the room. Someone, maybe Denmark or Prussia, whistled slowly in disbelief.

Hungary smirked and cleared her throat. "Unless you want to end up like poor little America here, I suggest you all learn how to block a punch before it's too late! Now, everyone get back to training!"

Everybody went back to their original activity, low murmurs of amazement and pridefulness of what the "new guy" had done. They continued to practice punching and blocking, but with a new level of excitement and energy.

"Um, excuse me? Can anyone help me now?" America called out in a thin, nasally voice. "And if anyone could fetch me a couple hamburgers, I'd be just wonderful."

 _The next day..._

 _10:14 AM_

"And I think I just invented this cool soda, it's a mixture of root beer, Coca Cola, Dr. Pepper, and some awesome secret ingredients, and I'm going to introduce it to my citizens for a new product, what do you think about that?" Denmark rambled on, oblivious to the fact that Norway, his partner, looked like his brain was going to explode.

"The problem with that is that it has nearly a cup of sugar in one can, so I'm afraid that half the country would be up all night, not that it's bad, but not exactly good for your health," he continued, "unless you're me, where I can drink 10 cans and be alright, and how about you?" He turned to face Norway. However, a giant, magnificent golden griffin stood in the way. It casually yawned, showing off his sharp fangs. Denmark screamed like a little girl and ran to the door.

"Good boy," praised Norway, patting the griffin on the head. It gave another yawn and disappeared into the air. He smiled and called a small sphinx to him. It materialized, and he began to practice sparring, now that his partner was gone.

 _12:01 PM_

"Food's here!" called England, and the Countries all swarmed around the food table to receive a piece of pizza or two. Italy screamed, "YES, VE~!" at the top of his lungs and piled 7 slices onto his plate.

"Hmph," grumbled America as he slid a sausage slice onto his plate, his nose patched with a white bandage and broken glasses duct-taped together. "We never get hamburgers."  
"That's because nobody but you likes them!" commented England, giving him a smile. "So dig in!" America started walking to the centre of the room where some tables were set up.

"Yo, 'Merica, bro!" called out Canada, who surrounded by Countries and chatting with them. "Your shoe's untied, eh?" America, predictably, glanced down at his feet.

"But, it _is_ untied," he said, a little confused. "Why w-" That's when he tripped over the untied shoelace and fell, landing face-first into his pizza. The Countries burst out laughing. America struggled to get up, face stained with cheese, tomato sauce, and sausage. Canada smiled, giving him a thumbs up, and resumed to talking with the others. America flushed, embarrassed, and excused himself to go clean up. For once, he was the forgotten one, instead of Canada.

 _5:58 PM_

"Great job, everyone!" called out England. "I will see you all again tomorrow at 6 o'clock sharp!"  
"Puh-lease tell me you mean 6 in the evening," groaned Korea, who had sores and unnaturally coloured bruises all over his arms, legs, and torso from training. "I just bought this new video game that I would prefer to play all night and tomorrow, not this."

"Do so and find gallons of tea flooding your house and your precious gaming system thing!" England replied cheerily. Korea huffed in annoyance and glared at the floor.

"And, once again, America, I will NOT get hamburgers for lunch for you! I don't care if your nose is bleeding again, we are not going to eat those disgusting, greasy patties of cow meat after training! See you tomorrow, everybody!"

 _The next day..._

 _7:42 AM_

"Hmph," Belarus sniffed, "you punch like a weakling. Whose smart idea was it to pair me up with _you_?"

Lithuania attempted to wink, failed horribly, and said, "Fate, destiny, and who knows? Maybe the great Aphrodite decreed it. After all, she IS the goddess of love." Belarus snorted and punched him in the gut.

"The possibility of THAT amounts to when pigs fly and America hates hamburgers."

"WHO has hamburgers?!" America called out hopefully. Belarus gave him her death glare and he shrunk back, turning his attention back to sparring with Canada, who was _still_ smiling from his previous accomplishment.

"Why don't you at least give me a chance?" questioned Lithuania, forming his infamous puppy dog eyes, trying not to show his pain at Belarus's punch (and failing, obviously). "I mean, look at me : I'm handsome, smart, and _quite_ the charmer."

Belarus snorted again and shot back, "You have about as much charm as a dead slug." His face fell, genuinely hurt by her harsh words.

"No, wait a minute, I take it back," she corrected, her face softening. He brightened up a bit, hoping that maybe, just maybe, Belarus would return his affection. "A dead slug has _way_ more charm than you."

"Now," she said cheerfully, "how 'bout we go back to practicing instead of talking about your 'amazing' charm, shall we?" Lithuania nodded politely.

"And besides," she said, leaning in so that only he could catch her words, "Russia's the only one for me. You are a poor substitute for him, so, yeah. _Back off_ " With that, she gazed at the tall Country, who looked back and visibly gulped nervously. And so they continued what they were doing, except for one thing - Belarus refrained from giving him her death glares. For once. (Well, at least, _tried_ to refrain them. No guarantees she didn't.)

 _1:19 PM_

"Why, WHY?!" moaned America. "How hard is it to order some hamburgers for lunch?! I crave them! I NEED them! Hamburgers are my life, for crying out loud!"

"Calm down!" commanded England, starting to feel like he could also punch him in the face. "Just eat it or starve for the time being, I really don't care!" America whined like a little puppy and slinked off with his plate of 'Alu Gobi.' England sighed, sitting down in a chair. Due to the facts that : a) Antarctica declared a mutiny, b) America would not shut up, and c) his favorite tea type supply ran out yesterday and he had miraculously forgotten to restock it during this crazy fiasco, England was a total mess. Without much thought, he ran his fingers through his hair tiredly. Glancing down, he gave a small yelp and all the Countries turned to stare at him.

Holding out the small grey hair in his palm, he whispered, "What..?" and his eyes grew wide. Some Countries smirked at the look on his face.

America, who had been sitting against a wall near the food table, silently set aside his plate he had been pathetically picking about and held up his phone, getting ready to record the spectacle that was about the happen.

"But, but, I DON'T UNDERSTAND!" England shrieked, slightly hysterical. "I'M ONLY BLOODY 23 _, FOR HEAVEN'S SAKE_!" momentarily speaking in his usual slang. America smiled a bit evilly. England then turned around him, for a second surprised at all the pair of eyes staring at him. He cleared his throat.

"Everyone, go back to eating, please. Pay no attention to America's incessant groveling, as usual. Thank you," he said calmly, resigning back to his usual demeanor. The Countries slinked back to their food, whispering among them excitedly. England walked toward America with an unreadable expression.

"How much does that cost?" he questioned, pointing to America's phone he had been using to video tape England's mini meltdown.

"About $200, maybe a little more. Why?" America replied. England silently pulled his wallet out from his trouser pocket, pulled out 140 British pounds, and held it out. America took it, slightly confused. Before he could respond, England took the phone, smiled at America politely, a glint in his eye, and violently chucked it at the hard floor with all his strength. The chattering in the room immediately stopped as about 6-7 pieces of the once amazing device scattered in all directions. They watched as England stomped around angrily on the shards, yelling "take that" and "stupid, wretched device!"

After his breakdown, he stopped suddenly and stepped back, momentarily admiring his destruction. America stared in shock as England clapped his hands loudly and said, "Kindly eat fast, everyone! We need all the time we can get to train! After all, Antarctica won't be waiting for us to attack!" With those words, England whipped around and silently stalked toward the doors, which slammed behind him louder.

"Somebody's getting older and edgier," Netherlands said, rolling his eyes. The rest of the Countries went back to eating. America still stared at his destroyed phone, finally shutting up about his need for hamburgers.

 _4:35 PM_

"Like, who stunk up the freaking men's bathroom?!" Poland yelled, storming in the room with a loud burst. "It smells like a 40 year old elderly pig rolled in manure, _died_ , and was thrown into a malfunctioning wood chipper!" Murmurs spread across the centers. Nobody stepped up. England rolled his eyes and glared at Spain.

"You know I get gassy from Indian food!" he protested. "Not my fault I have a sensitive stomach!" England groaned. Poland folded his arms and huffed at Spain.

"Everyone, stay away from the bathrooms, please! I will call Ozzy, who will fix the fan," he said, referring to their faithful janitor, who was constantly cleaning after the Countries. "And make sure to give Spain an angry glare, now will you?

 _The next day..._

 _5:12 AM_

"England England England!" Australia screamed at the top of his lungs, running through the doors, crashing into a very surprised England, who was standing around sipping his saucer, enjoying the silence. His evil looking koala followed, for once not looking as much as evil, but more concerned.

"What?" he asked, slightly annoyed, digging around in his coat to find a handkerchief to clean up the spilled tea seeping into his clothes. "And why the devil are you here this early in the morning?" Not pointing out the fact that England was here that early in the morning also, Australia cried pitifully:  
"They came! They came! They are terrorizing the land and the animals! Oh, my beautiful animals!" And with that, Australia fainted, crashing to the floor, overcome with shock, fear, and anger.

 _Approximately 49 long minutes later…_

Australia was still unconscious by the time most of the Countries were filing in. England stood next to his body, a grim look on his face. He gestured for all of them to sit down around Australia. They all sat, waiting for New Zealand, or pretty much the only country who was the healer in the group. Most others were the ones causing a need for healing.

Walking in, New Zealand's thick eyebrows raised as he said grimly, "Antarctica invaded already?" England nodded silently. All the Countries gulped unison. New Zealand knelt down to Australia laying on the floor, checking his pulse, noting how the seemingly unconscious Country breathed and twitched.

"He's in shock," he said, concern flitting across his face for a split second. "Someone get me a peppermint stick or something else with a strong scent?"

Italy rushed to the break room, bringing back a block of brie cheese, which he was going to eat for a side during lunch that day. New Zealand waved it around Australia's nose, then backed up quickly.

With a sudden gasp, Australia sat up, looking a bit dazed. "Wha.. What happened?"

"You came in, yelled about your poor animals, and passed out," England replied. Australia gulped and turned white. "That's right! Antarctica's penguin army came! All of the people in my country were confused, and they.. they just took over!"

"Did you try to stop them or even prepared them for Antarctica's attack?" questioned Russia.

"No," he admitted sheepishly. "I didn't _really_ think that Antarctica would actually do it, let alone so early."

England rolled his eyes a bit. "Well, obviously she did."

"Wait, how would the penguins even be able to stand the temperature?" asked Bulgaria. "Wouldn't they instantly die or something?"

"I don't know," England said. "Clearly, these are some sturdy penguins. I would imagine Antarctica came up with a specialized mutation that she injected into her penguins most likely years ago, leading to the fact that they would be a special breed of penguins, able to withstand any temperature - perfect for world domination."

"But, now it's time for action. We can't just _let_ Antarctica take over the world. We need to put a stop to it."

"So, we should go to Australia's land and fight the penguin army?" China suggested quietly. England shook his head.

America (unfortunately) opened his mouth. "I think we should go eat-" Before he could get any further, however, he was tackled to the ground by Romania, who firmly held his hand against America's mouth, stopping him from continuing on, much to the Countries' approval. England gave him a thumbs up as America struggled against Romania's strength, trying savagely to bite his fingers, angrily muttering some incomprehensible remarks.

"No, it's fairly obvious," England said grimly. "We can't just attack the penguin army. There are too many. We need to attack at the heart of the fight. In other words, in order to stop her from taking over our world, we must go to Antarctica to defeat her."

With that, he walked through the doors, heading to the Conference room, all the Countries following him. They had a plan to make. A plan that would either work, and save their world, or fail miserably, and let their world fall apart.


	6. The Plan

**Hello! How are you today? Enjoy.**

 **Don't own Hetalia, obviously. Otherwise, why in the world would I be writing a fanfic on it?**

"Okay, so here's the plan, everyone," England said, slapping his hand down on the Conference room table, causing Greece to awake with a panic, sleepily looking around in confusion.

"Obviously, Antarctica will most likely be in a hard to find place, maybe in a snow chamber. She will most definitely be surrounded by some penguins as her guards. We will be coming in submarines, in our groups made by the training centre. In other words, me, Austria, Hungary, and Germany will be the leaders of each separate group."

"Wait, won't Antarctica have the advantage?" questioned Egypt. "After all, she probably knows all the ways into her chamber where she will be, so wouldn't she already anticipate our arrival?"

"That is a problem," England admitted. "However, the only other way would have to be by helicopter, which would immediately give us away. At least by submarine, we can be prepared to strike and be somewhat hidden."

"So, we will have screens in the control room if we need to contact each other. The best driver of the subs will be steering. I will locate her, using a thermal detector. Hopefully, we will be able to fight off the penguins before they seriously cause some injuries. From there, I have no clue what to do next, since there are so many factors that could lead to either our victory or our downfall."

"Well, that is reassuring," Hong Kong muttered.

"To make things slightly to our advantage," continued England, "Everybody must stay with their training partner. I made the groups for a reason, and nearly all partner couples work well together or can teach each other new things. Since we have been training for a couple days nonstop, you should by now know the best way to work together as a team."

"With the exception of Canada and America," noted Macau, voice light and airy.

"Yes, that is a problem," England said, glaring at them. "Not all pairs were perfect, unfortunately. America, be nice. You're the older sibling, so act like it." America started to protest, trying to bring up Canada for punching him in the face, when Romania once again saved the day by tackling America down into the ground before any more stupid comments could be said.

"France and Iceland, _please_ don't try and win over Antarctica. That would not end well _at all._ I really don't care how 'amazing' you think you are at winning a girl's heart, so..." The partners both pointed at themselves and raised their eyebrows, as if that thought had never even crossed their minds. England and some other Countries glared at them, and Taiwan slowly drew her finger across her neck, causing both of them to gulp, diminishing the thought of trying to woo the evil traitor.

"And do not, under any circumstances, injure Lithuania, Belarus! I know he can be the most annoying Country on the planet," some Countries snorted at the understatement, "but I paired you guys up for a very good reason. Despite the obvious disagreements and differences, you work astoundingly well. We need all the help we can get, and I don't need my own side fighting with each other. I mean it. Don't be the cause of our downfall in the battle against Antarctica. Seriously." Belarus sniffed and Lithuania grinned slightly at the thought of not being injured by her.

"However, if he starts flirting with you, you won't be held accountable for any of your sharp words and/or insulting responses. If he doesn't shut up about it for more than twenty minutes, you have my forever permission to slap him in the face. Not hard enough to kill what little he has of brain cells, mind you, but hard enough so he does shut up - if that is even possible. Lithuania, you have been warned. Take heed of it. No screwing around." The grin quickly disappeared. Belarus rubbed her hands together, already anticipating the moment when she could smack Lithuania's face senseless.

"What are we supposed to battle the stupid penguin army with then?" Poland questioned, "since we _apparently_ can't kill or severely harm any of them, according to the Alliance."

"Good question," England said. "Even though I think at this point the Alliance is pretty much broken, courtesy of Antarctica, I would not like the blood of semi-innocent penguins on my hands - or on any of yours, for that matter. The good thing is, I believe we have an alternative use, thanks to New Zealand. Care to explain?"

He sighed in response, his shoulders slumping. "I really don't like causing any pain to the penguins, but we have no choice. At England's request, I have made a specialized liquid, made from a medicinal product meant to put patients to sleep for them to avoid the pain. With that, all of the tips of our metal darts, graciously supplied by Japan, have been dipped in the liquid. So, when you shoot at a penguin with your weapon, it will put it to sleep for approximately thirty minutes."

"Wait, we get weapons?!" Austria eagerly asked, looking slightly relieved. Germany held up a medium sized object, looking like a gun.

"This," he explained, "is a tranq gun. They have the capacity to hold 12 darts at a time. It has an astounding accuracy and precision, so whether a penguin is 5 feet or 50 meters away, with proper alignment and skill, it will hit them. As long as you aren't Korea, that is, who can't shoot for his life unless it's in a pointless video game."

"HEY!" he protested, deeply offended, being perhaps the most 'addicted to video games person' in the world. "Video games improve eye to hand coordination, it is a great stress reliever, which I clearly need, all thanks to you guys, and…" He kept rambling on about the benefits of video game playing as Germany promptly ignored him and continued on.

"We have 46 tranqs exactly, enough for all of us to have one, with none leftover. So please, don't lose yours. We won't have any extra. However, since Japan could only make about 1,500 darts in such a short notice, we get about 32 darts each. So, this is where your training comes in. Let me bestow upon you kids a bit of priceless advice : _Screw_ the Alliance." Several Countries stifled laughter, but the extremely serious, stern look on Germany's face instantly made them shut up.

"This is the battle for the world, children! We can't afford to lose. Otherwise, the world will be taken over by penguins. Hopefully, it won't come to that; nevertheless, we need to put a stop to Antarctica. Before it's too late."

 **Next update : Next Tuesday Wednesday. Happy holidays! :)**

 **-DragonFire0102**


	7. The Short Trip

**Hello, readers! Thanks for coming and enjoy your stay.**

 **I don't own Hetalia, obviously. Why would I be writing a fanfic on it if I did?**

* * *

 _In Austria's Submarine…_

"AHH!" gasped Austria as Poland narrowly steered the submarine to avoid a ginormous ice bulge from hitting them.

"Why did I choose you to be the driver?" he questioned, staring out into the ocean. Austria and Poland were in the main control room, surrounded by the latest technology allowing them to communicate with the other three submarines. Thick glass in front of them allowed them to see where they were going.

The rest of the Countries occupied in the largest space in the back of the submarine, filled with couches, bookshelves, and an entertainment center that somehow managed to fully function at least 50 meters below sea level. To the left of the control room was door, connected to the main room also, holding all of their equipment, including specialized thermal wet suits (perfect for swimming in the chilly water near the land of Antarctica and to keep the countries from getting hypothermia) and their tranq guns and ammo. To the right, a hallway led to a food storage, where _someone_ (AKA Cuba) was stealing all of the Double Stuffed Oreo cookies...

"Well, I'm the best choice," Poland replied haughtingly, his hands turning white from his tense grip on the control wheel. "You may be good in battle sometimes, but you suck at driving, and anyone else would have pretty much crashed into either a huge ice chunk, managed to get lost, or ran into a giant, homicidal leopard seal under Antarctica's orders. _Obviously._ Be thankful."

"Hard to be thankful when you keep swerving all over the place," muttered Austria. "I fully blame you if I get motion sickness from this."

"In a submarine?" Poland questioned pointedly.

"Exactly," he replied.

"Well, don't puke on me, thank you very much."

"No promises, unfortunately for _you_."

England's face popped up on the screen on the controls in between the two countries, face red with either the chilled temperature of the ocean or the excitement of it all.

"We're reaching the land," he informed them. "My heat sensors don't detect anything worth looking at. However, Hungary's sub has found an opening in the side of the ice, where there is dry land. She is waiting for us to meet up before any further investigations. I will send you the coordinates." With that, the screen went dark. A small slip of paper printed under the screen. Austria took it with slightly shaking hands.

"-77.364658, -148.940891," he read out loud. "Got that?" Poland was already on it, typing in the coordinates into the keyboard. A screen popped up, charting the land within a 50 mile radius, bright red dots indicating Hungary, England, and Austria's sub were. Hungary's submarine hovered near some land about 31 miles away. England was closest to the east of her, their own right behind. Germany was somewhere cruising along the opposite side of Antarctica, and would catch up soon enough. (They knew that Germany would be barking orders at the poor driver/navigator/steerer to hurry up - he had looked absolutely ecstatic at the chance of defeating the traitorous fiend.)

Poland quickly steered to right, then continued on, heading toward Hungary's sub. In the back, the duo could vaguely hear a demand from all the other Countries for Cuba to share the Oreo cookies (Except for Greece, who, along with his feline companions, was sleeping away, as per usual). Austria sighed, unsteadily getting up from his chair to stop the another war on their hands from occurring.

* * *

 _In Hungary's Sub…_

"If you guys don't shut up in the next 30 seconds, I'm coming back there!" barked Hungary, who was also steering. "And I'll bring my pan!" America and Canada, who had previously been heatedly arguing who was a better country (Canada was winning with the maple syrup industry and free healthcare) immediately went quiet. Hungary, sighed in exasperation as she drove along the icy land of Antarctica, scouting out for any more entrances. Macau sat in the other chair, holding on to her 'famed' frying pan in his lap, momentarily using it as a saucer as he calmly sipped his tea.

"Is it really necessary," he questioned politely, "for you to also have your frying pan along with your tranq gun? We wouldn't want much harm to come to the penguins, would we?"

She snorted in response. "At the same time, they are working for that traitorous Antarctica scum, so I don't feel like their safety is high on my priority list right now." The asian Country didn't challenge her. Hungary in her rare, angry state was too scary and violent for his taste. Actually, all the Countries were extremely glad that she was on their side, including Canada's pet bear Kumajiro, who was quietly sitting against the side of the wall, snacking on some raw fish. After all, she would most likely storm into Antarctica's headquarters, shooting some penguins with the darts on the way, and pound Antarctica's cold, yet somewhat beautiful face into the ice for breaking the alliance and threatening their world.

* * *

 _In England's Water Vehicle…_

"Um…" China said, brown eyes wide, glancing around at the other Country's shocked and somewhat terrified faces as he stroked his sleeping panda bear, "shouldn't you be driving, England? I don't believe any other Countries are at the front control room..." England chuckled at their uneasiness, stirring his tea quietly.

"Don't tell the others," he replied, a gleam in his lime-green eyes, "but there is a certain feature in the submarines I never really bothered to tell them about, and it allows the vehicle to drive itself. It will take us to our destination, or where Hungary is, and will hopefully avoid any and all obstacles in our way : all without a driver." They sort of pondered on that in silence, until Liechtenstein interrupted it.

"I'll have you know, England, that is very rude and inconsiderate of you. But, good job," she said with a slight smile. England relaxed, having expected her to be angry for being so 'inconsiderate.'

"Now, who wants to play ping-pong against me?" he asked, standing up. "Anyone?"

"Ve~ I will!" Italy volunteered, much to all the Countries' surprise. "I love the ping-pong! I call the red paddle!"

"We should bet on the winner, da?" suggested Russia with a smile. "I bet 650 rubles on Italy winning!"

"And," England said, smirking, "if I win, Italy should have to eat at least 5 scones that I baked!" The Countries all gasped.

"Yes, but what should you have to do if I win?" Italy pondered.

"I know!" Spain announced. "If Italy wins, England has to jump in the Southern Ocean with only his regular clothes on!"

"Hmm." Italy thought for a while, then looking at all the Countries with a wide smile. "Possible hypothermia against England's cooking? Fair enough!" he said, shrugging his shoulders and smiling. The Countries all "oohed" in unison, much to Italy's delight. England smirked again.

"Deal. Prepare for defeat, Italy!"

* * *

 _In Germany's Submersible…_

"Ugh, stupid ice!" Germany said in his thick, heavy accent. Everyone else, who were all in the lounge area, grimaced, as they could hear Germany through the closed door.

"We are going to arrive last," he grumbled, "like fools! And this stupid vehicle won't hurry up! How Hungary found Antarctica, I have absolutely no clue. I simply cannot wait to serve that demon some justice!"

Estonia stood up a bit sharply, looking as if he was getting ready to give Germany a lecture on how submarines worked and that they could not possibly go any faster unless they wanted it to somehow malfunction, but Vietnam shot him a warning look, and he sat back down. The Countries and Australia's evil koala bear all sat in slightly fearful silence as they made their way to Hungary's coordinates… all the while Germany kept cursing the 'troublesome' ice chunks and glaciers along the way.

* * *

 **Sorry for the short chapter, guys. I will try to make it longer next time. I will be posting the next chapter on Sunday. See you then!**

 **-DragonFire0102**


	8. The Arrival

**Enjoy their continuance of their journey!**

* * *

All four subs lined up against the edge of the dry iceland, waiting. England's face appeared on all of their screens, including the TV screensets, thick eyebrows glowering and his mouth a thin line.

"I am picking up multiple signs of life within 5 miles, including a figure of a human. Antarctica's is most certainly at the end of what seems like a tunnel system. Everyone, get suited up and loaded. We're going in." With that, he winked out of existence.

About 15 minutes later, the hatches on top of the subs opened, with Countries piling out. Each of them wore a thin, flexible, heavily heated specialized suit, containing multiple pockets for storage, which they wore over their regular clothes. The suits also included an interesting helm thing worn like a hat, heat radiating outward to keep their faces from freezing. They had on dark combat boots with rubber soles, good for gripping the land, and held in their hands their tranq guns. Across their bodies was a bandolier, holding their reloads. Some also held their respective usual weapons, like Hungary's frying pan. Strangely enough, Italy held a whisk in his other hand (where he got it, they had absolutely no idea), which made it look like he didn't know whether to shoot a penguin or start making pasta.

They stood in an organized line, each Country next to his or her partner. England and Hungary were going to be backing each other up, as where Austria and Germany. England cleared his throat, gazing into his comrades nervous eyes. They stood in a central sort of platform, and behind England were four tunnels.

"Well, are you ready, guys?" No one said a thing. He gave them the Look.

"Yeah!" they yelled, slightly halfheartedly.

"Well, let's go!" he replied, turning around into the long tunnel of iced land.

"Wait," said a tiny voice, and they all turned around to face the speaker, Seychelles. "Aren't you going to give us a pep talk or something? You know, something to hold onto as we race to meet our doom."

England sighed, then grinned a little. "You're right, love," here Seychelles violently blushed and turned to look away, "And so I have a message for all of you." He turned and looked at them again, eyes softening just a little.

"As I look at all of you today, I _just_ don't see the annoying, pains that I get each day. I also see the warrior in you, the fighter, strong enough to save our world. Together. And as we walk into the battlefield, I feel honored to fight by your side, brothers and sisters." He glanced at Germany to his left. "Are… are you okay, Germany? You look like you're about to cry…" The icy-blue eyed Country gave him a sharp look, wiping away something on his cheek.

"Don't be idiotic," he grumbled. "Something just flew in my eye." England grinned.

"Now," he continued, chuckling slightly, "I want to bestow upon you some words of wisdom from this old man." The Countries leaned in.

England broadly smiled once more - a real smile, not a fake one he wore every day. He opened his mouth, and said something that everyone would remember every single day of their everlasting lives -

"DON'T SCREW UP!" With that, he pivoted on his heel, pulled out his heat sensor, glanced at it, put it away, and started marching into the tunnel the second to the right. The Countries glanced at each other in slight disbelief, some rolling their eyes, but they silently followed their leader into the heart of the abyss.

 _Approximately 1.4 minutes later…_

"I'm hungry," Cuba complained, marching in one of the 2 straight lines, right behind to his partner, Monaco, and in front of Belgium. Switzerland from the other line turned and stared at him.  
"I heard you ate nearly three packages of Oreos on the trip here," he reminded, "so how in this world are you 'hungry?'"

"Because. And besides, Oreos aren't as good as ice cream." Switzerland just sighed and focused on the person in front of him.

 _3.2 more minutes later…_

"How much longer we have to walk, England?" France called out as they turned around a corner into another long tunnel. "My feet are aching like crazy!" Everyone could _feel_ England rolling his eyes as he answered back.

"We've been traveling for like, 5 minutes, and my guess is that we won't arrive for about another 40 minutes, at the least." France huffed.

 _42 seconds later…_

"Shh…" whispered England, pointing at a tunnel to their left. "I am detecting some life forms coming our way. Get ready to fight." They leaned against the walls of the tunnel, aiming their guns at the entrance of where England had said, some looking nervous, some excited, and some bored. Within about 30 seconds, a group of 40 or more large penguins appeared, armed with sword-like icicles. England yelled, "FIRE!" and action broke out.

* * *

"PASTAAA!" screamed Italy, running straight on the penguins. The penguins, who were apparently trained for this, made a loud, uneven, weird chatter, and started running to meet him, swords in the air, poised to strike.

"AHHH!" he shrieked, quickly turning around and running. He dropped his gun on the floor with a clatter and pulled out two small white flags from his uniform pocket, frantically waving them in the air over his head. Unfortunately for Italy, as he was running away from the penguins trying to stab him, a tranq hit his back, and he crashed into the floor. Ukraine, who had been frantically following her oblivious partner, dragged him out of the way from harm of another penguin who was about to spear the sleeping Country. She pulled him against a wall, out of reach of the penguin group, patted Italy's cheek tenderly, and stood up, a fierce look on her face as she raised her pitchfork in the air.

The black and white birds screeched as darts hit their comrades. One tried to sneak up on Germany, who was a maniac and was taking out most of them, but Austria had his back, violently clubbing the offending penguin in the back. The poor bird went unconscious… and Austria fell to his knees, exhausted from the effort. Germany grunted thanks in response without looking back. Austria weakly gave a thumbs up and seemed to collapse.

Echoing through the tunnels, Countries screamed. Shots fired and hit their targets, wicked sharp icicles clanked against walls, some of them piercing the flesh of the humans. Japan angrily knocked 4 penguins out of the way for trying to surround him. Hungary mercilessly battered penguins, screaming, and Cyprus furiously scolded a panicked looking penguin backing away from the Country, since it had tried spear Cyprus's partner, Seychelles, in the face.

Estonia, surprisingly, was a fiend - swinging his gun, bouncing off the walls, rowing down unfortunate penguins. Moldova seemed to be holding his own fairly well, protecting Latvia, who was pathetically sobbing due to a miniscule puncture to the arm. After several more tense moments, the fighting died down, then stopped completely.

England looked around. All the penguins lay, either unconscious or sleeping. Several Countries were bleeding from wounds, but no major injuries. Estonia was busy patching up his glasses, clearly explaining the reason he was fighting so angrily and fiercely. Italy, however, was sleeping against the wall.

"Hmm," England sighed. "And only Italy would bring along several cease-fire flags. What do we do with him?"

"First off, we need to do this," replied Germany gravely, pulling out duct tape and rope. Within seconds, he expertly tied all the penguins together, duct taped their flippers and beaks, and attached them to a wall.

"Now," he said, "I will take Italy back to the submarine. He will not be harmed there. We can retrieve him after we capture Antarctica." With that, before any of them could argue, he scooped up the pasta-loving Country, sort of cradling him, and darted off in the direction they had come from, out of sight.

"Well, let's go," instructed England. "Anyone seriously hurt?" They all shook their heads.

"Wait, shouldn't we wait for Wes- I mean Germany?" questioned Prussia, his dark, red eyes looking worried.

"Don't worry," replied England, laughing a little. "I think your little brother will be able to handle himself well enough. He'll catch up soon." He turned, once again checked his heat sensor, continued on, the Countries falling in line and following him. Austria whimpered a little, then dragged behind as they prepared to meet Antarctica… and maybe some homicidal penguins on the way.

* * *

 **Next post = this Wednesday (it will be fairly short, sort of as an extra chapter.) Thanks!**

 **-DragonFire0102**


	9. Germany's Deliverance

**Welcome back! Sorry for the extremely short chapter - sort of a mini one, a bonus chapter, etc. Enjoy!**

* * *

Having memorized the route on the way there, Germany briskly walked through the silent, empty tunnels, holding Italy in his arms. His boots echoed in a shallow manner. The little guy weighed next to nearly nothing to the large, burly Country, so he had no difficulty whatsoever - he might as well have been holding a newborn cat. After a little while, Germany reached where the submarines still remained next to the land, anchored to the ice.

With extremely slow, careful movements (it would be fairly bad on his part to drop a sleeping Italy in the freezing water), Germany climbed to the hatch on the closest one to him, watching Italy the whole time so that he would not bang his head against the cold metal. Laying the sleeping one on the small platform, he bent over and twisted the wheel, lifting up with some difficulty; it came up with a soft hiss. After picking Italy back up again, he lowered themselves down the ladder and stepped inside the vehicle. He gently rested Italy across the brown sofa, pulling a soft, warm white blanket over him, as if tenderly tucking in a young child.

After locating a yellow post-it-note package, the strict Country found a pink, sparkly, glitter-shedding pencil in a drawer in the main room, only to throw it away in disgust. He rummaged through it again, finding a more appropriate ballpoint pen. Germany quickly scribbled a message on the paper in his blunt, scrawling handwriting. It read :

' _I am very sorry, Italy, but I could not possibly risk you being injured hurt by that traitor, Antarctica - or any of her army, for that matter. This was the best way I could insure your safety for sure. Stay here until I come for you again. From your friend, Germany (extremely deformed smiley face).'_

He set it near Italy's face, yet, after some thought, he pulled out his trusty, silver roll of duct tape, tore off a tiny strip, and attached the note to Italy's forehead, grinning. Italy's breathing made the paper flip upward, then rested down on his face again.

He started toward the rungs of the ladder beginning to climb it. About halfway through, he stopped, looking at the peaceful, sleeping Country snoring away gently. Germany seemed slightly conflicted, sighed, and hopped down, moving towards the food storage.

Several minutes later, Italy was alone again, snuggled deep into the welcoming couch cushions, smiling happily from his unknown dream. Well, mostly alone. A large, clear glass bowl sat on the table in front of the temporary bed, filled to the brim with some cold, yet absolutely delicious fettuccine alfredo noodles. Another yellow note was attached, saying :

' _My friend, when you wake up… enjoy.'_ And so the bowl sat, simply waiting to be devoured by a pasta-loving maniac.

* * *

 **Next post : Sunday. See you later and have a good day. :)**

 **-DragonFire0102**


	10. The Steel Door

**Welcome back. Hope you enjoy this chapter!**

* * *

For the rest of the time spent when they were marching down the long, twisting tunnel system, all of the Countries stayed silent, not even a sneeze or a cough, since they were too afraid of making too much noise and prematurely causing the battle of the traitor and her evil minions. Plus, England threatened to flood all their houses with tea if they even dared utter a word… so that was a fairly efficient way of making them shut up. Surprisingly, they had not met any more violent penguin groups. Yet.

They had been progressively going downward as they traveled, the air getting thinner and slightly cooler. Some shivered despite their thermal suits. Most had extremely red cheeks and breathed out a small puff at every exhale - except for the Nordic Countries. Some, however, looked like they were going to pass out, like Australia, Egypt, and New Zealand.

Countries like England and Norway had managed to summon some helpers along the way. So, in addition to Australia's koala, China's panda, Kumajirou, Prussia's own mini-army of small chicks with hats, violent cats following Greece, and, strangely enough, a bunch of slow, tiny turtles following Spain, multiple supernatural/fantasy creatures tagged along, where they would be quite useful in the battle. Those included : fairies, goblins, demons, sphinxes, griffins, and a lot of other creatures that the Countries did not want to make angry in any way, shape, or form.

Especially the carnivorous animal/bat/monster thing that bore slightly unnerving characteristics similar to a Piranha Plant : spiny leaves, sharp teeth, and could breathe fire.

China flinched as a rabid-looking, extremely furry wolf humanoid of some sorts dripped drool on his shoulder. Clearly, it had smelled his meat snacks in his uniform. Meanwhile, England's personal Bulgaria, who was slightly unnerved by the eerie silence, decided having a house overflowed with tea was certainly better than this, and cleared his throat.

"Hey, everyone, why don't we sing a song?" he whispered cheerily, making sure only the ones he was surrounded by could hear him. "100 bottles o-," he started, but Romania once again saved some of their little sanity by smacking his friend in the face with his tranq gun, leaving a bright red mark on the other's cheek.

"Nope." Bulgaria looked heartbreakingly sad, eyes going darker, then opened his mouth again.

"How about-"

"No."

"Or maybe-"

" Bulgaria, if you dare to continue, you also get to feel how a punch to the face feels," called out Taiwan from behind him somewhere. He immediately shut up. England grudgingly gave her a thumbs up of approval over his head without looking back, trudging on.

"Who are you?" whispered Kumajirou, looking at Canada in confusion. The Country didn't say anything.

Finally, after what seemed like days, they reached to the end of the tunnel. There was a door, built into the side of the iceland. It was more wide than tall, made of solid steel with random markings on it. In the center of it was a symbol : a delicate snowflake with a circle around it, 2 spears arranged in an X over the top of it - the apparent new symbol for Antarctica's mutiny.

The heat sensor in England's hand clearly showed that there were multiple life forms on the other side - including the body of a thin, human being. He turned back, looking at all the bleak, tired, but determined faces of his Country Army, to be facing the penguin army.

"Ready, everyone?" he whispered, eyes both worried and slightly excited.

"Yes," came some replies, but certain Countries (aka Latvia) looked like they were going to wet themselves from fear.

"I said," England said patronizingly, a slight smirk on his face, "Are you bloody ready, you blubbering, idiotic gits?"

"Yes, sir!" they all yelled in unison.

"SHHH!" he whispered frantically. But it was too late; they had been too loud. To the horror of most of them, the door swung wide open, pinning England between the metal and the iceland. A loud, slightly dull echo drifted throughout the multiple tunnels, somewhat leaving a constant ringing in their ears. In the doorway stood Antarctica, hands on her hips, head cocked to the side, almost contemplating the motley group in front of her.

She was seriously underdressed for war, that was for sure. A simple, loosely fitted white cotton shirt with lace at the bottom, a small icicle necklace, and rolled-up dark capris was what she had on - and without any shoes. Small silver studs shone in her earlobes. Her hair was in a loose french braid, some strands wisping across her pale, "ghost" face, eyes glittering pure evil. Apparently, the continent had decided that the overtaking of the world had caused the need for looking fancier - she had applied bright red lipstick, mascara, and eyeliner, which greatly enhanced her steely, icy eyes. If they were in any other situation, some might have called her 'beautiful.'

In the room behind her, masses of penguin soldiers stood at attention; to the side was a control panel of some sorts, an empty throne made of ice now empty. A screen was attached to the wall, showing video footage of the current panic all around the world. Australia tensed at seeing the penguins terrorizing his people. The land of New Zealand was currently being invaded as they stood, staring at the grinning continent.

With a bone-chilling smile, she said haughtingly, "Well, well. What do we have here?" Some of the Countries almost laughed at those words, except for the fact they were absolutely terrified.

"I thought I would have to find you and track you down, but I suppose you have come to me! I thank you for your kindness. Now-" she gestured to her silent penguins behind her in the spacious room, standing in articulate lines, poised to fight with their little icicle swords, "prepare to die!"

"Countries!" England screamed, his voice muffled from being slightly crushed by a 70 pound, steel door, "attack!" Russia stepped forward, a smile on his face. The tall country had always been quite intimidating, but the look on his face made all of them cower in fear.

"LET'S GO!" he yelled, raising his gun in the air. With those words, the Countries broke their silent, icy state and charged to reach their enemy.

* * *

 **Sorry for the shorter chapter this time. I shall be posting a much longer one on Thursday. See you later!**

 **-DragonFire0102**


	11. The Fight of the World

**Good day. Enjoy this (hopefully) more enjoyable chapter.**

 **I don't own Hetalia, as per usual.**

* * *

"I don't see the point in fighting these vile creatures while instead we could be calmly discussing peace negotiations over tea," commented Macau, stepping aside and shooting a penguin in the back mildly. He regarded his defeated opponent falling to the floor, as if contemplating which type of tea the penguin would have preferred. Sweden grunted in return, jaw set and icy blue eyes narrowing, mowing down their opponents. A radiating aura of intimidation spread out from the angered, even annoyed Country.

The stretched out ice room was a madhouse - about an acre of screaming Countries against the surprisingly violent birds. Seas of penguin troops came after the 46 Countries, brandishing their icicles. Antarctica herself was at the heart of the battle, wielding a silver bladed katana; Germany had met her, but neither Country seemed to be winning - she was a viper, yet he a ferocious brute. The European might have experience and skill, but the icy continent had agility and speed.

Egypt frowned, jabbing a penguin with his staff, keeping it at bay. With the other hand, he skillfully shot several opponents behind him without looking. Vietnam finished the rest of the job by shooting a dart into the slippery neck of the other. Together, they made a formidable team.

Liechtenstein screamed. A pile of penguins were on top of her partner, Finland. She tried firing, but another few surrounded her, one stabbing into her leg. With a mighty yell, Finland got up strenuously, throwing off the heavy birds in all directions. Smiling a little, spots of red on his slightly chubby cheeks, he came to the rescue, tackling them to the ground, making any pro football player proud. Meanwhile, the girl, ribbon a little torn, began berating them while shooting darts in their stomachs. She daintily curtsied to Finland, who blushed immensely and hesitantly bowed in response.

Canada and America, finally, had stopped fighting each other and instead battled the minions of Antarctica.

"Come on, you frickin' commies!" America taunted, along with a lot of other more . . . say, _colorful_ insults, causing them to angrily waddle to the Country. Canada made use of his apparent 'invisibility,' precisely shooting the angry birds as Kumajirou occasionally took down a few. Whenever his brother became too overwhelmed and/or screamed in panic, the bear and his owner swooped in, all of them standing back to back, shooting like the world was ending. Which, it might be.

The mythical creatures were also doing their job - the most of them scaring the poor penguins into running away in a frenzy. Some, unfortunately, had decided that it was snack time… Norway and England didn't really have the heart (or the courage) to tell them it wasn't. Pixies and smaller creatures simply created a ruckus, biting them and generally causing mischief.

Norway's griffin was immensely helping, snatching up any seriously threatening birds and carrying them off, letting go mid-air, once again testing if penguins could actually fly. Sadly for them, they couldn't.

Australia's koala let out its murderous intent, snarling at any who came too close it its owner and clawing them. Australia himself was having a blast, snickering whenever his darts hit. He had taken his partner Estonia's gun, since he was absolutely clueless when it came to battle, but the other wasn't deterred - he had plenty of knowledge to keep him alive.

"Get behind them! Penguins cannot walk backwards!" he helpfully yelled. "Knock them to the ground - takes a while for them to get back up!" All the while, he hopped around, as if it was all a game.

"I hate penguins," grumbled Hong Kong, jumping out of the way of an airborne penguin. Netherlands nodded in agreement.

More penguins were hit with Hungary's intimidating frying pan than being shot with her tranq darts.

"Ana~" Thailand randomly called, serenely knocking down birds. Switzerland recoiled at them, but continued to shoot.

Iceland and France winked at Antarctica when they were near her. In response, she growled savagely and they went back to taking down birds.

"I can take out more penguins than you," boasted Turkey to Japan. He respectfully nodded and calmly regarded the opponents, frowning as they tried to hurt him.

So far, the only major injuries was a broken wrist from Belgium. She grimaced but didn't cry out as she was protected by Greece, who for once actually looked fully awake, and his mini cat army. The ferocious felines hissed and threw themselves onto the birds, snarling and clawing their slick feathers.

"Stand back!" ordered Germany, welding an icicle sword. His tranq gun had been knocked out of his hand by Antarctica's personal own guard penguins, lost to the mess. But that didn't matter, as he didn't need it to take down the continent . . . besides, taking down an opponent by hand-to-hand combat was certainly more impressive instead of using a sleep-inducing tranq dart.

"Why?" she mockingly questioned, dodging his swings and sprinting backwards. She brandished her katana, which was about 2 feet long and had a wickedly sharp edge. On the black hilt, silver etchings depicted multiple insignias of the one on the steel door.

He didn't reply. All around him, squawking penguins and Countries were engaged in fierce combat. Germany took a step forward, parrying and thrusting. She blocked all of his moves with ease, still smiling. Feinting to the left, he dropped to the ground and stabbed into her leg.

Despite the attack, she showed no emotion, limping just the slightest, blood seeping in her pants. "My penguins : attack!" Before, they had mostly been keeping other Countries from trying to hurt Antarctica; now, they all swarmed Germany. Despite his pure strength, he went down.

She sprinted back, took a backwards somersault onto the control desk made of ice, and stood tall over the battle. Aside from her leg wound, she just had a minor cut to the cheek. The griffin and some other creatures began to attack, but she used her katana with expertise, striking them down - many retreated, sporting major injuries. Yet, some fell to the blade… permanently. Antarctica almost looked bored, examining her immaculate nails while attacking with the other hand.

"Why do they send me weaklings when I wanted warriors?" she mocked, glancing over the room. Her words traveled through the thin air loudly and boldly, making her sound like an announcer. "I thought it would be hard to take over the world." She sneered, cherry red lips curling up. "And to think… the greatest Countries ever, defeated by mere penguins! So, how's it feel to be a 'hero,' America?"

Over the threshold, he angrily yelled back, "Good enough if I get to defeat _you,_ you backstabbing, cowardly piece of trash!" Again, along with more colorful insults.

Antarctica feigned surprise and hurt. "What, me, a coward?" She leaped off and started towards the Country. Darts flew and tried to pierce her skin, but she deflected them with her blade with ease.

She approached America, who had been fighting a group of penguins on his own - nobody had been fairly close to him. Despite the fact that he was about a foot taller than her, he looked scared to death; she smiled sweetly, as if they were simply chatting in a casual manner. Since the Country apparently couldn't move, too mesmerized with her bright eyes, Antarctica slowly and deliberately took his tranq gun. He let her.

"Hm…" She turned the weapon over in her hand, getting a feel for it. Time seemed to slow down a little, yet the fighting still continued. "I wonder . . . what does this do?" He didn't respond.

Germany had finally gotten out of the penguin pile, nearly 20 of them now wounded. He tried sprinting over to them, but was once again overwhelmed by the persistent little warriors. He went down again with a grunt.

"Step back, Antarctica!" England howled, making his way through the crowd of screaming figures.

"Oh, now you're giving orders now, aren't you?" she sneered. "Typical England; always the one to boss people around and thinks he's the leader of the world."

"No, that's me," protested America, now a bit unfrozen from her steely gaze. "Haven't you realized that I'm the true leader of the world?"

"Shut your filthy mouth, idiot," she snarled. "Besides, _I'm_ the leader now." He shrunk away, staring at the katana and gun in her still hands.

"Ari," England warned, using her human name.

"Arthur," she said in the same tone, sounding a little amused. "And your point is . . . ?"

"Get away from bloody America!"

"Sorry, not sorry. I don't take orders from you or anybody else!" He stepped closer, about 10 yards away from the two. "Don't come any closer unless you want America to get stabbed!"

He faltered. By now, all of the activity in the room had slowed down immensely - they still fought, but it was reluctant and most were watching the spectacle out of the corner of their eye.

"Antarctica," he said, voice low. "Don't. You. Dare." She giggled, making England's blood boil.

"And what if I do? Will you flood my house with tea? Oh, _soooo_ scary!" Before any of them could react, she slid her blade into America's midsection casually, sinking into his flesh about 3 inches deep. As she pulled it out, the Country screamed and collapsed, lying on the floor.

"Brother!" cried Canada, rushing to aid him. Penguins gathered around him, holding him back. Gasps and other reactions echoed throughout the large room, most of them held back by the minions of Antarctica. For England, however . . .

"You're a double-crossing, half-faced twat!" he shrieked, racing after her with inhuman speed. The smirk on her face quickly disappeared as he tackled her, both of them hitting the floor hard. Both weapons were knocked out of her hand, clattering against the ice.

They rolled, the other Countries shoving away birds and trying to get to them. A mighty war cry erupted from Germany, who shouldered his way through roughly. England screamed some more incoherent words, trying to pin her to the ground. The two rolled around, tearing at each other and frantically scrambling to not let the other to escape.

"Bloody - no good - prat!" he managed to say between throwing punches at her and she in return. Blood spat out England's mouth, his tooth nearly knocked out from a well-placed, powerful hit from Antarctica, but it didn't seem to bother him much.

Meanwhile, Gilbird and his gang was busy trying to peck the eyes out of the penguin restraining an angry Prussia. The mythical creatures tried to help England to prevail against Antarctica, but there was too much movement and confusion that they hurt him more than helping him. So they resorted to attacking some helpless penguins who were on the lookout for blood.

Antarctica pinned the Country to the ground, her pale arm braced against his throat. She pulled him up to his knees, putting him in a headlock; nonetheless, that didn't stop him from trying to bite her arm. The Countries had never seen England with such the rage and hate in his usually handsome green eyes. Now, they glowered with intense venom.

Her cold, calculating eyes searching around her for any potential enemies, the continent plucked her katana up as England kicked around, his face red from her grip slightly crushing his windpipe. She held it up for everyone to see, admiring it and even swishing it around the air a couple of times.

"Everyone, freeze!" she commanded, grinning. They stopped. Almost nonchalantly, Antarctica leveled the sword, bringing the edge about an inch away from England's throat. He resisted swallowing.

"Surrender," she chirped around the room, smirking, "and put down your weapons - nobody will get hurt" Everything went still, the air tense.

"Otherwise," Antarctica continued, cocking her head, "your precious England's throat will be slit. And we wouldn't want that to happen, now would we?"

* * *

 **Next post : Next Wednesday. R &R. See you later!  
-DragonFire0102**


	12. World Domination

**Hello again! Hope you enjoy the chapter and obviously, don't own Hetalia, otherwise why would I be writing this, exactly?**

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"How do we know that you will not harm us if we surrender?" Thailand questioned politely. Antarctica laughed a bit.

"Well, you see, what's the point of killing you all immediately?" she asked. "Before I get rid of you, I'd like you to see your country get taken over first. And believe me, you'd better be in tip-top shape so you can enjoy all the details. Besides, I suppose you'll have to take my word for it, anyways." The Country wasn't really convinced, but she still had England. They stood in silence, almost daring the other to move.

Much to everyone's surprise, Germany surrendered first. He knelt down carefully, glowering at Antarctica. With some hesitation, he laid the sword on the ground, backing up slowly.

"You harm any of us," he glowered, "I will personally hunt you down and spill your blood on the ice of your land."

"Nice to know," she replied cheerily. "Anyone else want to surrender the easy way, or is this going to become a problem? Personally, I would go with the easy way, but hey - not all of you are intelligent enough to do so." Looking around, Canada sighed quietly and dropped his gun to the floor, gulping. Then Seychelles. Sweden. And the rest of the Countries.

As soon as the last weapon had reluctantly been dropped by Japan, she beckoned her head to the penguin who seemed to be in charge of the bird army. Without hesitation, they began rounding up the Countries as if rounding up sheep in a pen. A small group of penguins started to drag America along, who was incoherently mumbling to himself, lying on his side and curled up in the fetal position. Antarctica, still holding England hostage, rolled her eyes a little.

"It wasn't _that_ much of a stab," she sighed. England couldn't really respond to that, considering he was, well, being choked by a girl half a foot shorter than him and about 50 pounds lighter. Not one of his best moments.

Casually walking over to the huddled group, their weapons scattered on the ground, Antarctica forcefully threw her hostage into the crowd, some of them catching the leader as he gasped for oxygen. Flipping her hair, almost sarcastically, the continent strolled over to her icy throne, the main control desk in front of her. She pressed a few buttons. Another soft _hiss_ erupted from the steel door. To the right of her sat an oak desk, elaborate and covered with a very thin layer of ice. Taking her sweet time, she pulled one drawer open and pulled out several syringes, admiring it in the little light they had. Some gulped. In the small containers was a bright, almost neon green liquid, pulsating slightly.

She walked back to the group, searching for someone. She pointed out Belarus, nursing her arm.

"Come here, Natalia." She timidly approached her, head bowed in fear. "Give me your arm." She did. Without wasting a second, she quickly stuck the long needle in her arm and pressed down a little bit, only giving her about a millileter. Her dark blue eyes dilated, breathing getting shallower.

"What did you do to her?!" Lithuania and Russia shrieked in unison (the latter in his thick accent, and about an octave higher than the regular voice level). She rolled her eyes.

"Ah, nothing. Just a certain . . . experiment I designed. Quite painful, isn't it?" Belarus didn't respond, staying still. "Hmm. Don't worry. It won't permanently damage anything once it wears off in about . . . 15 - 20 minutes. Hopefully." Antarctica glared around, not many reaching her hateful eyes.

"Don't any of you try anything," she warned, "otherwise my penguins _will_ be called to action, and they will detain you. I've also locked the doors and nothing else will be able to penetrate this room unless I give my consent."

"Besides," she continued, glancing at the screens for a second, "if you do try to escape, and when you are retrieved, guess what happens?" Nobody guessed. "It means, I shall be giving you a _lot_ more than a mere millileter. Great, right?"

"Why?" Hong Kong had to question, dark hair falling in his eyes.

Her eyes grew malicious. "Why, you ask. Why, as in, why I take over the world? Why as in, why I'm doing this?"

' _She's batty,'_ thought England through the fuzzy spots. ' _Battier than, well . . . a bat, I suppose.'_

"Well, to enlighten you simple minded Countries," - here Estonia felt severely offended - "I decided to take over the world when _America_ decided to share his oh-so-amazing plan to stop global warming. Again, I realized : why do I have to stick around for this and follow your pointless orders?"

"I mean, it's all your fault for ruining the world in which _I_ own a seventh of it. Why should I be the clean-up crew, fixing all of _your_ mistakes?" She let that hang for a bit.

"I spent countless months planning how to do so," she said, gazing around the room slightly dreamily. "But, then I decided : what better way to take over the world with your own family? After all, these penguins are much more like family than _you_ guys. Not to mention smarter, kinder, and greatly more cooperative."

"At the same time," someone muttered, "they smell like fish and are about as scary as a unicorn." Antarctica, miraculously, just laughed.

' _And when are we actually going to be watching the world being taken over?"_ England thought. ' _Not saying that's what I want, but this whole evil villain speech thing is getting seriously boring.'_

"And you'll be saying that," - cue pointing at the screen - "when your people are overtaken by them, no?"

"Oui . . . non." She rolled her eyes.

"Anyway . . . England," she sighed, "I've always hated you."

' _The feeling's mutual. Very, very mutual.'_

"You act so posh and sophisticated . . . but in truth, you're a barbarous, savage coward who doesn't have a clue what you're doing."

' _Wow . . . thanks!'_

"Germany . . . savage . . . snippy . . . another cowardly beast." Everybody felt the European Country tense up and bare his teeth, trying so hard not to start attacking someone, whether it be the birds or the smirking Continent.

"China, annoying and selfish. Vietnam, stuck up. Shall I continue?" They shook their heads. She continued anyway.

' _Well . . . insulting people apparently is her new favorite pastime . . ."_

"Latvia - crybaby. Moldova, annoying and _way_ too childish. Turkey, a huge showoff and unbearably cheerful. Egypt - wait, what's wrong Belgium? Hurt your poor little wrist?" She nodded uncertainly.

"Hmm. I suppose you won't be making any waffles any time soon."

"But enough chit-chatting!" she demanded, suddenly impatient. "I've got a world to dominate!" Antarctica walked back to her control.

"Flit! You're in charge for now. Anyone makes sudden moves, feel free to stab them. Got it?" The penguin made the weird chattering/yelling/squeaking noise in understanding.

"Great. Anyone want ice-cream?"

Nobody raised their hands.

"Good. I don't have any, and if I did, why would I give it to you? Only if I injected poison in it. Anyway . . . before I start, any last words? Questions? Concerns? Any suggested Country that you want me to take over first?"

"As a matter of fact," Canada said, much to the surprise of everyone, including Antarctica, "why don't you take America over first?"

"What the heck, bro?" his twin groaned. "Wow, thanks for selling me out. I really appreciate it."

"But seriously, why not? You probably hate him the most, second to England, and it's one of the most influential Country on Earth! If you beat his citizens into submission, the rest of the world will be much, _much_ easier to control, eh?"

Antarctica actually looked to be considering it. "Well, very convincing. Very, very convincing, indeed."

"What the devil are you talking about, Matthew?!" England snapped under his breath. "How is this ever going to . . ." Wait . . .

"Oui," France jumped in, "the twin makes a good case. Why strike the snake several times instead of simply cutting its head off immediately?"

"Seriously, why do you guys hate me? Wait, don't answer that. I really don't want to know." Antarctica wrinkled her nose.

"And, um . . ." The Canadian faltered. "Additionally . . ."

"It'll be much easier," Iceland stalled for him. "After all, the majority of Americans are, like, obese, and lazy and stupid and dumb and did I say lazy?"

"Did you know that 68.6 percent of American men are considered obese or overweight?" Estonia helpfully implied. "So, as opposed to a 31 percent of obesity rate in New Zealand, you will have a way better chance of overtaking it!" She stood still, then nearly dashed to the control board, turning switches and pressing buttons.

"Yes, come in Ice 34?" they heard her whisper urgently. "Ice 34, I am relocating your group, along with Icicle 19, Snow 155, and Snow 42. You will take Route 195-52." Silence. "Yes, I realize you're almost there. No, I don't really care. Now get there, now!" More silence. "Just . . . do it."

They awkwardly waited as Antarctica contacted groups, eventually sending out many more groups from around the whole continent. Finally, she finished. They gulped.

' _Oh crap, now what?!'_

"So," she said calmly, leaning back in her throne, sighing happily, "you idiots, say hello to the brand new world, ruled by : Antarctica herself!"

* * *

 **Next post shall be on either Wednesday, Thursday, or Friday, depending on how I choose to continue this. Kindly Rate and Review. Thanks you guys! :)**

 **-DragonFire0102**


	13. A Visitor

**Welcome back, and I hope you enjoy this chapter!**

* * *

"What now?" England angrily whispered, glancing around. Antarctica seemed to be fairly preoccupied, what with her plans for world domination. Around them, the mythical creatures had simply disappeared, not wanting to help anymore after seeing what had happened to Belarus.

The rest of the animals like Gilberd and Kumajirou had stayed by their owners' sides, though clearly frightened. Except for maybe Greece's rowdy cats that were trying to eat Gilberd and his chick army. Luckily, they had the sense to take cover on Prussia's shoulders and head, where he angrily shooed the felines away.

"I suppose . . ." Canada winced. "I don't know. I expected her to argue with me, therefore stalling for time, but she was a lot more willing than I thought she would be. So now . . ."

"Ukraine," the European country said, "how's Alfred doing?" She looked up, concern flashing through her otherwise calm face.

"Not well. He's losing blood fairly rapidly, but he'll live. It'll just be very, very painful." Looking back down, she nervously fiddled with America's glasses, still held together with the duct tape.

"I feel like death," he groaned.

"Well, at least you feel _something,_ " England snapped back. "And quit your groaning. When I was _your_ age, I was dealing with the bloody Black plague, not some silly stab wounds, you bloody git."

"Oi, not again with the Black plague!" Australia commented, rolling his eyes. His koala bared its teeth in agreement.

"Well, it's true!" Their voices were rapidly rising, but thankfully no one was threatening them if they didn't shut up. Besides, any sane person could clearly see that once the Country's were on a roll, they would probably _never_ shut up.

"Alfred's useless as far as he's wounded, and constantly whining won't do any good!"

"Why are you so hard on your brother?!" Liechtenstein angrily berated. "He's hurt, and you're doing nothing yourself!"

"I would have to agree with Liechtenstein, you're not doing much yourself there, Arthur," Switzerland said.

"Well, I can't do every bloody thing ar-"

"ENOUGH!" Antarctica commanded, not turning back. "Do you ever shut up? If any of you make another sound, I'll personally feed you to my leopard seals!"

As the England attempted to defend himself against an onslaught of slightly angered Countries through harsh whispering, Germany stood against the wall, busy trying to come up with an escape plan - or any plan at all, for that matter. Currently, he wasn't having that much luck.

' _Let us see . . . no entrances seem to be apparent besides the door . . . approximately 37 birds wielding the icicles and the syringes surrounding us . . . Wait, what's up there?!"_ He wrinkled his nose as he stared up at the extremely tall ceiling. There seemed to be icicles, ranging from 6 inches to 3 feet, dangling from the top. They glimmered, sending off a delicate look.

The longest and most sharp icicles seemed to be hanging directly over Antarctica's throne.

Grinning ever so slightly, a glint in his blue eyes, he motioned at England. Unfortunately, the other was still too busy and ignored Germany. Knowing that the Country wouldn't stop arguing until he defended himself, he summoned Prussia, who came scuttling over.

"Whatcha need, West?" he asked a bit too enthusiastically and loudly. Germany shushed him and the older one toned down the voice level just a bit. "Anything from your awesome big bro?"

"Yeah, yeah, Brother. Look, you see the ice?" Germany pointed to them.

"Yes," Prussia responded, grinning.

"Vell, I need help from your . . ." - here the younger brother coughed a little, shuddering - "um, _awesome_ self. Can your, uh, Gilbert or whatever his name is, and his friends peck through solid ice?"

"Gilberd," Prussia corrected, "and maybe. I don't know. Why?" Leaning in, Germany explained his plan - though it had a fairly low success rate, it was certainly better than standing around and waiting for the world to be taken over. After he said the last word, his red eyes glowed with excitement.

Glancing around, Prussia whispered to the yellow bird, which hopped off energetically as soon as the Country finished instruction. It immediately began chirping to the others, and while they were chatting, Germany began to prepare.

Unfortunately, Antarctica had taken everything from them, including all of their food and weapons. But he still had the suit. The one containing special heaters that regulated temperature throughout his body constantly.

The biggest were located on either side of him. Twisting around to the right, he ripped the sleek fabric and the temperature immediately flew in, making him grunt. On the inside was a small pouch, and as he fumbled at the stitching, warmth radiated. Within seconds, he was holding the heater : a small, handheld device made of metal. He did the same on his left side.

Wrapping them both in ragged fabric, he took out the extremely small roll of duct tape he had stashed in the pockets inside. Pulling it out, wincing at the noise, he ripped some and attached it to the small packages, leaving plenty hanging off.

By this time, Prussia's Gilberd's chick army had gotten assembled; they fluttered around him, waiting. Handing over the packages reluctantly, the European Country watched as they began to take off - about 8 birds were in charge of each heater, and the leader of the birds, well, leading them, heading right to the icicles dangling carelessly over Antarctica's head.

Frowning, he scanned the area. Antarctica : still taking over the world. Penguins : thankfully hadn't noticed him and were busy trying to get England and his protesters from punching each other in the face. He almost felt sorry for him - they hadn't figured out that their attempts would only make it a lot more worse.

For some reason, China angrily was berating England about his poor cuisine skills - in addition to the fact that he couldn't make _cereal_ without burning it, the horrible cook also needed to make more chinese dishes.

Prussia looked like he was suddenly going to be worshipped because of his birds. They were surprisingly fast, with their tiny, short wings. Already, they were almost there.

' _This better work,'_ Germany grumbled in his mind. ' _I have an appointment at 5:00.'_

They reached the 2 longest icicle's base. Immediately, the ones holding the heaters fluttered at each as the others began bringing the tape around, securing it.

They were back in no time. Prussia, looking like a father proud of his son, beamed and allowed all of them to settle in his white hair. Germany let out a long breath; he had thought they would have failed miserably. Now, they would wait.

 _A short time later . . ._

Water was dripping off the sharp point of the icicles, but the Continent was too focused to notice. Germany held his breath, for once dropping his stern gaze and looking almost hopeful. Any moment now . . . any moment.

Leaning over to his big brother, he murmured, "spread ze word. Tell them to get ready to defend themselves." Prussia obliged. He kept his eye on Antarctica. Already, nearly all the penguins were at the U.S. At her word, they would attack.

The arguing ceased. Glancing at Germany, England almost looked fierce as he turned and clenched his hands together firmly. The aura of the room seemed to get tenser.

"Alright, kids!" Antarctica announced, standing up.

' _No . . ."_

"Let's see . . . Everything's in place," she commented, stepping away from the throne. "I'm about to take over one of the most powerful country in the world. America, you ready?"

Instead of simply answering 'no,' the Country muttered something that would anatomically impossible.

"Wow, thanks for the tip, but no thanks!" Turning back, she was about to sit back down . . . but not before having a water droplet splash on her face. She looked up.

At that moment, the icicle decided it was going to fall.

 _Crsshh!_ The Continent backflipped out of the way, landing perfectly. The throne and part of the panel board : destroyed. Ice shards skittered away, some piercing Antarctica. A thin line sliced through her arm.

Germany decided that there was nothing scarier in the world than her face. It was red - nothing else. Especially alarming when it was on a girl whose skin was practically white. And even more so if that girl in question was stalking towards him.

And some more if she were to be holding a syringe filled with the _special_ liquid.

"I'm going to assume you were behind this, Ludwig?" she asked sweetly. He couldn't reply. That was okay, because they were interrupted before anything drastic could happen.

* * *

England was about to tackle Antarctica, but unfortunately for him, a creature popped up.

"I just came right over to say hi!" squealed the Flying Mint Bunny. "Watcha doing?" It flew around his head, giggling.

"Flying Mint Bunny!" he gasped. "Now's not a really good time!"

"Why?" it politely questioned. "I thought you _always_ enjoyed my company!"

"I know, just . . . can't you just disappear and fly back in some other time? I'm really not in a position to have a friendly chat."

It's little mouth trembled slightly. "What Britain? Don't . . . don't you want to talk to me? I was just trying to cheer you up . . ."

"No, no, it's not like that!" he rushed. "It-"

"Talking to your imaginary friends again, Arthur?" Antarctica questioned in a mocking tone. "And I thought you've grown out of that. How sad."

This time, the Flying Mint Bunny tensed up with slight anger. "What did she say? _Imaginary?!_ "

"Flying Mint Bunny," he whispered out of the corner of his mouth, "it's okay. Run along and I will be able to chat later, please." But it was all worked up now.

It headed toward the Continent, bouncing up and down through the air. "What, you don't believe in mythical creatures?" it asked in it's tiny little voice, sounding almost offended. "You, with your _so_ cute hair and clear complexion?"

"Bunny!" he called. "You don't wanna mess with her! She's dangerous!"

"Oh, and I'm trembling in my wings!" it replied. "Besides, she can't hear me, can she?" Oh, good point.

"You're hair's a rat nest! I can tell you're Antarctica, what with your cold eyes and icy heart! No, wait, I take it back - you don't have a heart."

"What the devil is it saying?" Antarctica demanded, all the while the mythical creature was insulting the Continent.

"Um, uh-," England stuttered. "I do-"

"Eh, doesn't matter," she said, rolling her eyes. "I don't _care_ what your imaginary friend thinks about me. For all I care, they can insult me all day. Why should I take heart to what something _that doesn't even exist?_ " Oh, that really did it now.

"WHAT DID YOU SAY, YOU NON-BELIEVER?!" it screeched, making England almost wince. Antarctica sashayed past the crowd. She turned back, making a face.

"Oh, I'm so afraid of your friend, England. What, it's gonna kill me with rainbows and unicorns? Wow, how childish." The Flying Mint Bunny flew toward her, beginning to bite her skin.

"OW!" she shrieked, holding her arm. "What was that?!" England was in shock - he had never seen a - as the Bunny put it - non-believer that was human getting attacked by a mythical creature and feel it.

"Go, Flying Mint Bunny!" he cheered. It was practically wild, scratching and biting at Antarctica, who was flailing around, trying to avoid her invisible enemy.

She swing her hand around, clenched in a fist - to his horror, it managed to hit the mythical creature perfectly. It went flying, landing on the ice floor with a soft thump.

"No!" he heard himself yelling. He dashed over, but the Flying Mint Bunny disappeared, most likely transported back to its own world.

Scratches bleeding, the Continent looked downright murderous - worse than usual, too. She stalked over to England, scooping up the syringe she had dropped. He backed up nervously.

When Antarctica reached him, she looked so intimidating that England nearly cried.

"When I get to the U.K.," she threatened, "I will personally torture every single one of your citizens, with you watching." She raised the needle.

* * *

Matthew Williams was frozen. It was not a good feeling. He watched Antarctica threaten England. Everybody was silent, watching, wincing.

He saw something in the corner, behind the control desk.

Was that Germany?

He couldn't tell.

' _Please, let it me Germany,'_ he begged silently. ' _I - we - need a miracle right now.'_

As he watched the figure, it seemed to crouch down, pointing something at Antarctica.

' _Please let it be a tranq gun, please let it be a tranq gun . . .'_

The figure pulled the trigger.

A dart appeared in Antarctica's side.

She collapsed.

' _YES!'_

The figure stood up. It wasn't Germany.

Germany - the real one, standing behind him, shouted out in surprise.

" _Italy?!"_

* * *

 **Didn't expect that, did you? Or at least, I hope you didn't. Anyways, I'm sorry to say that school's gotten me busy and I won't be writing much. So I can't say for sure when the next chapter will be. Sorry! Kindly rate and review. See you later! :)**

 **-DragonFire0102**


	14. Defeated

**Welcome back, readers! I am quite aware of the fact that I haven't posted another chapter for about a month, and I deeply apologize for that. Lately, things have been busy, I had a major writer's block, I spent a lot of time blankly staring at the screen, waiting for the words to magically appear on the screen... but thanks for your guys' patience, and thank you to Layla, who had the courage to speak up and tell me (indirectly, of course, since she was so polite about it) to get up and post already before I have a small (but angry? I don't really know) legion of readers hunting me down. Thanks again, and continue on!**

* * *

While the penguins had had their own dilemma with the overthrow of their ruler, Germany was speechless. When he had seen the figure, he had suspected a president or ruler, somehow that found out the whole ordeal with Antarctica. He definitely hadn't expected the cowardly little Country Italy. The cowardly Italy who had single-handedly brought down their enemy.

"Vee~~ Germany! Isn't that Antarctica scary?!" Italy questioned, dropping his weapon on the ground and rushing towards him. He leaped up and gave the intimidating Country a quick hug, then quickly dropped back before Germany could react. "I found your note. At first I was mad," here he twisted his sleeve nervously, "but then I found the pasta, and now you are forgiven!"

". . ." Around them, the birds were rapidly scattering, causing a mayhem of yelling countries and animals - the penguins all left the room, running through the tunnels in a speed most penguins should have not been able to accomplish.

"Germany?"

"B-but how?" the Country stammered, looking back at the other Countries, who were also about as shocked as he was, from both Feliciano and the birds. Italy thought for a second, genuinely looking confused himself.

"Vell, I woke up, then ate the pastaaa! Yum, it was good, with the chicken alfredo and the soft noodles . . . and the fork!" he added, beaming brightly. "Of course, the fork was a-great because it picked up the noodles for me to eat! I ate the whole bowl, and I started searching for more, but there was no more pasta or pizza, only those weird Oreo cookies! I thought to myself, 'Maybe I can just make my own!' Unfortunately-"

"Can you just get to the part when you come rushing in here and shot her?" France almost demanded, looking a bit worried at the unconscious Continent, who was still crumpled on the floor.

"Oh, okay, Francis! Um, then I found a spare weapon in the back to defend myself from those sccarry penguins because they refused to listen to my white flag!" Here, some Countries grinned. "I followed the sounds of yelling and screaming in terror, though I did get lost in the cold tunnels. Ve, it was freezing! At some point I laid down and rocked back and forth, thinking about . . . pastaa!"

"Also, my boot laces came undone and I forgot how to tie my shoe, so that slowed me down just a bit. However, then I finally figured it out, remembering that little bunny ear trick, you know with making the ears and tieing them together - they really should think of a more easier way to remember. Anyways, then I arrived at this little door with a snowflake thing on it! I was about to retreat, but I heard Antarctica threaten my Germany, and that did it!"

"How was the door opened?" Lichtenstein questioned. "As far as I know, it was sealed to the in and outside."

"The panel," Estonia called out from the middle of the still huddled mass of Countries. "I suppose it being broken by the icicle would cause it to open, if the system was one with a . . ." Here he mumbled off, doing the calculations.

"How would you have been able to bloody sneak in without being seen?!" England said. Italy shrugged and sheepishly rubbed the back of his neck.

"I have always been good at hide and seek?"

"But-?!" England just seemed to be at a lost for words, his mouth opening and closing like a fish gasping for water. It was an interesting sight.

"So, what'd I miss?" Italy asked cheerily. No one answered.

"We are going to have to explain all of this to our bosses," Canada came to the conclusion. "What do we do with her?" They all looked at Antarctica, curled up in a little ball.

"They'll take care of it," England said grimly.

"But-"

"She'll probably be under captivity at all times, and the penguins . . . I don't know," Germany mumbled, twitching his nose. "Maybe . . ."

"They'll have no ruler than, for the time being," England butted in. "Of course, who knows what they will decide to do."

"Speaking of which, it looks like all the birds have gone missing," observed Prussia, glancing at the screens. Looking, they could see the Country was correct - Antarctica's army had scattered and the peaceful citizens were on with their day, not knowing of a possible overthrow from penguins. Meanwhile, her once-minions were in the tunnels, all seeming to head in random directions - maybe their own homes or places, perhaps?

"I'm totally fine, by the way," Belarus grumbled loudly, glaring at England. Russia and Lithuania, who were at her side, glared back too, though Belarus's brother did a much better job. "Oh, you know, just got some strange liquid injected in me, causing some excruciating pain, but 'whatever,' as some people would say."

"Um," England said, clearing his throat awkwardly, "Are you okay?"

"Oh, sure, sure. Thanks for the concern," she replied coldly, steadying her gaze on Russia, who tried not to wince. Lithuania just turned his angry look to Russia.

Estonia spoke up quietly from somewhere. "Well, Antarctica did say that it would only last 15-20 minutes. By my calculations, it's been 17 minutes and 39 seconds, so it would make sense that the effects are wearing off. By her stance, actions, and words, I would say the liquid has no damage that would last after the effects have worn out. Probably should go get a doctor, though."

England didn't know what really to say, but judging by the looks he was getting, he probably should change the subject.

"So," he said, boldly stepping forward, "what's our next move?"

Ukraine, New Zealand, and Estonia once more looked up warily. Below them, America huffed lightly, laying on his side. The bleeding had stopped. Long, stretching bandages made out of what seemed like thin sheep wool were wrapped around his midsection tightly, secured with medical tape. Though his skin was still fairly pale and his hair stood at end, the Country seemed to faring pretty well, considering he was stabbed less than 20 minutes beforehand.

"Well, first we should probably get him to a doctor or some type of professional help," the nordic said, blinking and taking off his glasses. "No internal damage, but we should double check, just in case."

After some pause, England responded, "Right," acting as if he hadn't just forgotten his brother until they had mentioned his need for medical attention. "Um . . . Germany, can you secure Antarctica?"

"Already done," he replied, glancing down at the very much duct-taped mummified Antarctica, whose breath made the whole cocoon shake. Her nose barely peeked out. England gave Ludwig a very knowing look.

"You do know that that's going to be extremely painful for her to get out of that, right?" The other didn't answer; he didn't have to. America gave a small amount of claps before sighing and closing his eyes .

After more silence, Egypt quietly questioned, "What now?" England sighed and ran his hands through his hair, looking up to the ceiling of glistening icicles dangerously dangling from the cavernous space.

"I suppose," he thoughtfully wondered, "we'll have to turn her into our bosses. They will know what to do now."

"But what about us?" Poland slightly sputtered, getting a little red in the face. "We are the ones who took her down, not them. So why shouldn't we be able to deal with her?"

"No, Italy defeated her, not us," he corrected. "Besides, it's our duty to report any problems to them. We're just . . . I don't know. Either way, we aren't responsible for what happens to Antarctica, however much we helped in, as you so blantly put it, 'taking her down.'"

"Oh, great."

Ignoring the comment, England gazed around the room and sighed. "Anybody have their phone on them?"

* * *

 **Some significant amount of time later…**

"And you should know," England's boss said, smiling and putting her hands behind her back calmly and regarding the slightly nervous Country, "your deeds have not gone unnoticed, nor have the other's, including that Feliciano. You will be heavily rewarded."

England smiled nervously, and bowed in return, hair falling in his face. "Thank you, m'lady."

Minutes later, he stepped into the room where the other Countries were impatiently waiting, and closed the door gently, he sat down next to his brothers America and France and couldn't help but let out a sigh of relief. Around them, the Countries chattered quietly for once. Some were eating, some were asleep, but all of them were present - even America and Belarus. While England had been having fun talking to his boss, everybody had had medical treatment, and now, America had professional bandaging and Belarus had had testing. As much as England knew, nobody was seriously hurt.

"Why do we have to wait here?" America grumbled, rubbing his eyes. "Why couldn't we have met in my land?"

"You know the protocol, Alfred," England sighed. "How many times do I have to tell you?"

"Not enough, apparently," France snorted.

"What time's the trial?" a Country interrupted from somewhere across the room.

Without any hesitation, England replied, "Actually, today at 6:00pm. We all get to come as witnesses, and will get to testify. It could last anywhere from half an hour to 6 or 7 hours." Cue groans.

"Why today?" someone called out. "Don't court cases usually begin at least two weeks after the person is detained?"

"Antarctica's a special case, apparently. Though at least one person from each national jury or judge or whatever is coming, so it should be pretty quick."

"Do we get to skip?" Taiwan hopefully called out. He just glared at her, where she glared back for a moment then gave up, slumping down in the chair she was sitting on.

"Do we get to eat food in court?" China questioned in his choppy speech. England shook his head. "Suck people these days, don't know good food when eaten!" the Asian country groaned.

"What are we supposed to do when she's contained?" questioned Cuba, closing his eyes calmly and folding his arms, a cigar sticking out of the corner of his mouth.

England shrugged. "Go back to our regular lives? I'm not quite sure. The Queen says that we'll be rewarded, but who knows. After all, they say we're the people of this world, but we aren't even allowed certain privileges for our own lands."

"Oh, and Italy," he called. The other stopped suddenly and stood at attention tensely, looking nervous. England laughed slightly.

"No, you're not in trouble." He relaxed and grinned. "You, apparently, are going to be heavily rewarded for your actions in defeating Antarctica."

"Like pasta?" he hopefully wondered, showing off his teeth.

"Sure, sure, why not."

As they all settled down, some starting to play made-up games, England approached France, who was admiring someone - from the look of it, China, though he wasn't sure.

Sitting down, the other said without tearing away his gaze, "Having fun?"

"Not at all - I don't have any idea why they put me in charge of these bloody meetings. They're idiots. What ever happened to the good old days, where I would sail the seas, exploring land and blowing up ships?"

"Well, first of all, I don't know, youngling. Why anybody would put someone like you in charge?"

"Hey!" England protested.

"It's true. Second, I notice you've slowly been reverting to your British vocabulary. Whatever happened to that bet you made with America?"

"I suppose I'll have to pay up. Whatever, though - all this is making me stress out."

"And 'all this' is making you suddenly sprout gray hair?"

"Oh, bloody shut up," England crossly stated. "I've only been a country for barely over a thousand years, you git." France couldn't help but chuckle.

"Oh, and America happened, that's what."

"Yes, the bloody Revolution, that wanker started. What did I do that was so wrong?"

"Hmm, quartering soldiers, stealing profits, that whole thing with the 'taxation without representation…'"

"But he dumped 46 bloody tons of tea overboard!" he complained loudly. "Besides, don't you ever sympathize with me?"

"Nope, of course not. _Vous êtes aussi épais que d'une planche*_ , after all, so why should I feel sorry for you?" After some moments of silence, England spoke suddenly.

"Would you at least care to visit Ari with me?" he asked, nervously rubbing his fingers.

"Why, do you _like_ her, or something?" France replied, winking and nodding knowingly. "Ooh, little Arthur, has a crush on Antarctica?" England made a noise that was part scream, part gulp, and part growl.

"No, I just want to talk to her about some things," he said between his clenched jaw. "That's _it._ "

France shrugged. "If you say so, little brother."

"For the last time, I'm not that younger than you! Stop referring to me as your 'little brother!'"

"Non." England threw up his hands in exasperation.

"Fine! I give up. But do you want to bloody come or not, idiot?"

"Okay, okay, you don't need to be so angry," he replied indignantly, acting offended.

Crossing the large room, England was about to slip through the door, when France boldly announced, "If you need me for any reason at all -" here he winked, directed towards probably more than one Country - "We shall be visiting the lovely Antarctica in her cell, beca-"

Before he could get any more words in, England roughly grabbed his arm and shoved him in the doorway, shutting the door firmly. The rest of them resumed their fun activities, waiting for when the trial would start.

 ** _*English translation : 'You are as thick as a plank (of wood)'_**

* * *

 **Thanks again! I will try and post another chapter in about a week and a half to a week, but as you might realize, I'm not good at promises. Another thing - the story is getting near the end, and I apologize for a (compared to others) pretty short fanfiction. I tried, but, oh well. Anyways, kindly R &R, and I will see you again next time! :)**

 **-DragonFire0102**


	15. A Smile in the Dark

**At this point, I can't even think of a good excuse, other than major procrastination. This'll be a shorter chapter... Sorry, guys.**

* * *

The cold, dark walls made England and France shiver slightly. Where they kept ruthless killers and other such criminals weren't exactly the best places to hang out around, but they - or rather, England - felt the need to speak to Antarctica before her trial, doom, and ending to her reign of power in the south pole.

"Paranoid, much?" France said as they made their journey through the multiple security checks and locked doors. "At this rate, we'll be dead before we can get to Ari's cell."

"Oh, shut up," England said warily. "Do you ever not complain of anything?"

"I don't complain about beautiful women, or men, or good food, or-"

"Not helpful."

"Who said I was supposed to be helpful?" Silence. "Fine, if you want to be like that, be like that."

"I will, thank you very much, not that you care."

They approached another check.

"Take off all loose jackets, shoes, and bags," a bored guard said, not looking up from his phone. France and England grumbled in unison, the latter looking like he was about to kill somebody again.

"Why do we have to go through this again?" he asked the security person, who still didn't look up. "I mean, I'm pretty much the leader of the world. Do you really think I'm dumb enough to help someone escape?" This time the man looked at him, rolling his eyes ever so slightly. Thankfully for all of them, England restrained from slapping/punching him.

"I've told you this for the last time, Mr. Kirkland, no matter who you are, I still have to check you, obviously. Besides, you might know enough to not do such a thing, but I don't know about Mr. Bonnefoy over here…"

"It was one flippin' time!" France protested. "And it was nearly 70 years ago. Besides, she was a beaut… I couldn't help myself, thank you very much!"

"Yeah," the guard snorted, "and that 'beaut' of yours managed to go on a murdering spree in Sweden, of all places, so…"

"Hey, when you're me, you can't exactly be picky!"

"For god's sake, Bonnefoy, shut up," England snapped.

"I agree."

When they got through the gate, the hallway loomed in front of them. At the end stood a door. On the other side of the door : Antarctica's cell.

"You ready?" France asked, looking slightly skeptical. England straightened his back.

"Yes."

* * *

Turning to look, Antarctica froze. In the barely lit hallway, dear Arthur and Francis stood, staring at her.

She looked like crap, she knew. Her hair was in tangles, dirt on her face. Even the ugliest thing she'd seen - other than America's face - she wore, which was a bright, neon yellow and orange pants and blouse, was already torn. Blood was on her face.

It was worth it, though, them staring at her like she was some sort of freak. She bathed in it. Ari laughed.

"Well," she said sweetly, "if it isn't my princes, come to save me." England scowled, his thick eyebrows lowering in anger. France remained mostly neutral, which was strange - in any other circumstances, he would have started flirting with her by now.

"Tell me, England," she leaned forward, eyes slitted though the thin space in between bars, the sound of electricity in the air, "How was the Queen? Doing lovely, I hope. Let's see, what's the dear's name?"

"Don't talk about her like that," he said rigidly.

"Like what?"

"Like… like she's beneath you. You, a measly, power hungry witch." She feigned hurt.

"Wow, and I thought you really liked me."

"Think again, Ari."

"So…" she leaned back, the chains at her wrists clinking slightly. "What brings you two here, if you're not here to rescue me?"

"None of your business."

"Yeah, and I believe that you're just here for fun, for no apparent reason." She smiled, as if having a secret she couldn't wait to tell. He stiffened.

"Ah, yes," Antarctica said, batting her eyes, almost sarcastically. "The brave England, once a well-known, respected sailor of the seven seas - now, a pathetic snivel, meant to babysit the world and scared of me. Me, an even more pathetic, 'evil witch.' Looks like somethings have changed, haven't they?" He didn't respond. France looked slightly more murderous.

"And, what a shame," she sighed.

"What?" England asked, a steely gaze on his face. His hands were behind his back, but she could still see his arms go tense, as if clenching his hands together in an attempt to control himself. How adorable.

"Oh, nothing," she glimmered ever so slightly, "I just find it a shame that you couldn't even keep that young… Alfred from rebelling, let alone be the leader of the whole _world."_

"Don't. Bring. Up. Alfred." She had hit a nerve. She kept going.

"Oh, and what was it? 13 measly colonies, against a 'powerful' company, with at least 10 times the military forces. How sad it must be-"

"Antarctica-"

"To have your own rise up against you, let alone win?" She smiled again, enjoying the look on his face - she practically soaked it in.

"Years of America being yours, and somehow, you managed to fail at keeping him under control. Sad, isn't it?"

France cleared his throat, looking extremely awkward. "I think we should go…"

England held out his hand, stopping the other Country from stepping away. "No," he commanded, "we should not."

"Oh?" Antarctica asked, arching her eyebrow. "So, now that England failed to do multiple jobs, even taking down me, he can, wow, all of a sudden, tell you what to do, Francis? Interesting." Redness crept up to his ears, and he had the sense to look slightly ashamed of himself, though only for a second.

She knew what he was thinking. He wanted to hurt her, strangle her. Kill her.

"Go right ahead," she laughed. "I'm waiting…"

"No…"

"Go on…" she prodded. When would he finally snap?

"..."

"What, nothing?" He didn't answer.

"Okay, okay, I give up. Go on, now. You have my permission to leave; to go back to your own silly little lives. Scooch!"

She thought that would finally push him over the edge.

It didn't.

England silently walked over to the door, hands calmly by his side. He waited for a moment, then it buzzed. He pulled the handle, gesturing for France to exit. The other Country did, looking back for a second. Then he disappeared from Antarctica's sight.

Before England slipped through, he glanced back.

"What, any parting words?" she couldn't help asking. Instead of answering, he made a sign with his hand, something that made her heart jump. It was almost a fist, but not. He brought it to his forehead, then pushed out, forming into a flat hand. Then he left.

She leaned back. It had been a long time since the last time he did that. It was their signal, their own thing. It could mean 'Hello,' 'See you later,' or 'Goodbye.' It was pretty clear which one he meant.

Antarctica was surprised he remembered. And, despite her cold heart, despite her evil ways… she still smiled. Though this time, it wasn't for anybody. Not even her.

* * *

 **Next post = ? The good thing is, spring break is next week for me, so maybe I'll write a lot more... and I'm hoping the next chapter will be a lot longer (2,500-3,500? I don't know). And this story is coming to an end! Only 2-3 chapters left... thanks for sticking by :)**

 **-DragonFire0102**


	16. Escape

**Welcome back. You know, I really hate myself sometimes. For the 42nd time, I would like to apologize to keep you waiting. Sorry.**

* * *

England stared out into the eyes of his fellow Countries, following his - most of them looked bored, tired, hungry, or some odd combination of all of them. Italy was asleep in Germany's arms, muttering something in his sleep. All of them, except for France, Germany, and Belgium, were significantly far from their land in Headquarters, and would most likely collapse when they got back.

"Ready?" he boldly asked, jutting his chin out at them. Nothing really came back, other than a few disheartened sighs. "Good. Follow me, then."

* * *

 _Minutes later…_

This must be quite a sight, England mused, about 40 nearly comatose Countries following him around like little ducklings following their mother. They received a scattering of strange looks, though most of the people they passed by were used it it by now.

As they passed the hallways, making their way to the courtroom, he imagined that within 20 minutes, they would be asleep. He thought about America, drooling on the table, with the gavel of the judge being hit, knocking him awake, and -

That was the farthest he got in his little scenario, when an alarm rang through, blaring on and on. Needless to say, that woke up the Countries.

"What's that for?" he yelled at the people running past him, trying to stop them. The noise in the room was unbearable, rapidly rising with concern and confusion.

"Get out of the way, Kirkland!" Germany ordered in a guttural voice. "You're in ze way!"

"But I need to find out what's going on!" he protested, trying to stop and question some of them.

"For God's sake, Iggy, you'll get run over!" France called, his voice exasperated.

"No! I am the leader here, it's my job to find out what the devil is going on here-" With that, England was swallowed by the rushing crowd. Immediately, between the pulsing bodies and chaos among them, France, America, and Canada followed, shoving through the mass.

* * *

England didn't have the slightest clue where he was going. Left was right and right was left - everywhere he looked, nothing was clear.

"What's happening?" he tried asking, but nobody heard. A hand closed around his wrist, pulling him back and almost dislocating his shoulder. He came face to face with France, followed by the North American brothers.

"What in love's name are you doing, mon ami?" Bonnefoy scolded, clicking his tongue.

"Shut up, you bloody git!" he snarled, "and stop treating me like a child!"

"Well, I am your elder, and by that reason you should-" he was nearly run over by a frantic guard.

"What's going on?" England asked again - this time, the young man turned quickly; instead of answering, his eyes widened and he gestured for them to follow him, then sprinted off.

Before France could argue again, the so-called leader of the meetings ran, and he tailed after, cursing all the way in French. America took Canada's arm, who protested, and shoved his way through, following the sound of Francis's vile language.

* * *

When he reached the exit, the sun glared into his eyes, blaring and bright. England had already lost the guard approximately 5 seconds of tailing him, but simply followed the shouting and the wave of bodies. _Oh, no…_

He came to an abrupt stop and strained to hear someone - a general? Someone of importance, that's for sure - giving out orders. He elbowed his way in, getting closer.

"Search the perimeters!" The voice boomed. "We will not stop until she is secured!"

"Who?" England asked, already knowing the answer. His heart pounded.

"Antarctica," a person said next to him, voice dripping with hatred. "Somehow, with those infernal penguins of hers…" Before he could turn on the man and start interrogating him, France once again grabbed his arm.

"What-" he started, but then faltered as England rapidly explained, face white. Canada gasped.

"Well, dudes, where is she then?" America asked, looking worried, the normally chipper bounce in his voice gone. England shook his head in defeat. France stiffened, though.

"I know where the little devil has gone," he whispered, for once not having a hint of admiration in his sentence. They all turned toward him.

"Where?" England demanded, a hint of impatience rising up.

"To…" he faltered.

Canada's eyes widened. "No." France nodded miserably.

"Yes… she has gone. Since her plan at overtaking America failed, she will target another enemy : me."

"Wait, why you?" England questioned. "I mean, what did you do to piss her off so much?" He blushed.

"I may have, um…"

"Oh, bloody god no…"

"Hey! I was young and foolish and she was young and beautiful, and-"

"So!" America interrupted, "where is she going again?"

"Back at her headquarters… I thought they were just some random numbers, out of nowhere-"

"What numbers?"

"Coordinates…. Ari… Ari is targeting me now. And that means, at this moment…" he gulped, "she will be targeting my most famed landmark : the Eiffel Tower."

* * *

"Where are you going?" Canada huffed, trailing after his older, much _cooler_ brother, as America wanted to go by.

"What'dya think, dude?" he called, not bothering to look back. "We need to catch up to the others!" Meters away, in front of the two, England and France took off at a much higher speed than he thought they could even achieve, heading for one thing : the helicopter that England had stationed for just this type of situation.

Canada couldn't answer back. His mouth was too dry - he supposed he'd been talking more this week than an entire year, and at a nearly impossible voice level. It was exhausting. How in the world did his brother even manage, what with all his useless, bumbling talking every day?

Leaping up to the door after crossing the circle, England shot across into the pilot seat and fumbled, starting it up and switching the controls on. He didn't even bother closing the door properly, which was just as well. Right on his tail, France gracefully reached up and swung himself into the seat next to the pilot's, sweeping his feet inwards and pulling it closed. America and Canada, before the 'elders', as Alfred so blantly put it, could stop them, piled in the back. They barely had time to get the rest of their limbs inside the vehicle before England started rising, pitching forward instantly off the landing.

"Can you wait until we at least are safe enough to not fall out?" America half joked, half screamed as he yanked the door shut; Matthew doing the same. England shook his head.

"If we go now," he yelled over the incessant roar of the blades spinning, "We can reach Paris in little more than 20 minutes!"

"But it's 230 miles from here to Paris," Matthew pointed out, taken aback. "Even in a helicopter, it would take at least 45 minutes. So how will we ever get there that quickly?"

"If you have some of the best engineers in the world, plus Estonia, plus some other high powered guys, you can create the fastest vehicle known to man, or woman!" France answered, knees shaking. "It's great!" England didn't bother adding to that; he was too busy trying not to hit any buildings or concrete walls while they headed southwest.

Staring at the horizon intently, Arthur just had to ask. "What, again, happened with Ari?"

"I'm not going to answer that question," France retorted. "Besides, aren't you supposed to be paying attention to the whatever so we don't die?"

"I can crash this right now, if I wanted to, so…"

"Spill!" America begged. France simply folded his arms and stated, "I'm much too gorgeous to be embarrassed while telling this story, so no.

"C'mon!" England complained. "We were, like, good chums back in the golden days, so I have a right to know!"

"Wait," America suspiciously asked, "you were friends with that witch?"

"Oh, yes, once upon a time, when you and Matthew weren't around - the good, peaceful days."

"Sure, if you didn't mind the death and plague-"

"Shut up, and let me finish. This was before she was founded, as you might say, but still, and I still don't know how this happened, but after all, she did seem to get everything her way, and anyway, she was still my relative age. Somehow. Oh, the stories we would make and the worlds we created-"

"I still don't understand. Wait, is that why she stiffened when you made that weird hand sign thing?"

England sighed. "I thought you were out the door at that point."

"Nope. Not at all. What was that?"

"Don't care to explain."

"Tell me, Iggy!" America pleaded.

"I'll only tell," he said, scanning the sky, "if Bonnefoy tells how he scored - I mean _scorned,_ my apologies - Antarctica into hating him so much."

"Tell him, Francis!"

"Only if he explains his first."

"Oh, fine, it was this idiotic thing we made to replace 'Hello' or 'Goodbye,' or occasionally 'I miss you already.' Now spill."

"'I miss you?' Iggy, are you sure you don't have a crush on this girl?"

"I did, I mean I didn't, or I don't," England stammered, and upon the look on his face, added, "and shut up, then tell us the story."

" _Fine._ Once upon a time, where faeries roamed free and Iggy dearest only had a fraction of the eyebrow thickness of what he has now…"

* * *

When they nearly reached Paris, France was twirling his hair in his fingers, biting his lip. England looked at him, and when the copter dipped and the two in the back made an undignified scream in unison, he glanced back at the sky in front of them.

"Stop being such wuss," he couldn't help muttering.

"A wuss?!" France retorted, face going red, "I am not a wuss! Antarctica the crazy - but gorgeous - witch is going to blow up the freaking Eiffel tower!"

"She is not," Canada tried to reassure him.

"No, she definitely isn't!" America blurted out with a grin. "She's gonna completely annihilate it until there's nothing left!" The frantic Country let out a girly scream that made them all wince.

"Okay, that witch isn't going to blow up your precious tower," England scowled, back to his grouchy mood. He looked back at America "Now, would anyone care to explain why-" he was cut off when he ran into a building.

In those brief moments when they were falling and crashing to the ground, the Countries saw their long, exciting lives flash before their eyes - France's may or may not have been more enjoyable than the rest. Flailing, they grabbed the seats, France holding onto England's arm so tightly it bled. Accordingly, America scrambled for someone to hold while he fell to what it seemed like their imminent death. Unfortunately, that someone was Canada.

Alfred's stomach almost jumped out of his throat when they landed - hard, but mainly unharmed. Surprising, since they had been at more than 2,000 meters, at the very least, but he wasn't about to complain. "Specialized so you couldn't kill yourself, Iggy?" he couldn't help asking England, who was cursing pretty creatively. He didn't answer. Smoke rose into the air. While Canada was nursing his hand a little and searching for his glasses, France howled.

"Look at this!" he wailed, pointing to his face. Several scratches and cuts appeared on his forehead and cheeks. "My beautiful face!"

"SHUT UP, and let's go!" England shouted. "Ant-freaking-artica is probably doing God-knows-what right now, and you're fretting over your bloody face!?"

"Pun intended?" America whispered. In return, he yanked the door open, coughing out smoke, and stomped out. "Guess not."

* * *

"Which way?" England yelled.

"LEFT!" They turned left.

Glass imbedded in their clothes and smelling like smoke, the four followed France into the City of Love, making their way to the other side. If they had been paying more attention, they would have noticed the tip of the Notre Dame Cathedral, peeking over some of the other buildings, right behind them in the distance. As they ran straight into a crowded intersection, crossing the road and nearly getting run over (a process that would not only been unfortunate but also extremely painful - something America knew firsthand) they could have stopped and admired the beautiful architecture of the buildings. However, they were on a mission, to stop somebody who could take all the wonder away in the blink of an eye.

"How long until we're there?" America huffed, beginning to slow down and nearly choking on his own harsh breaths.

"Soon!" France called back, making a swift move down a street, gently curving right. "I know where she'll be!"

"Great," England muttered, "so we can now cross paths and then she shall proceed to kill us. Bloody fantastic, ain't it?" As he said these words, pretty much all of them, including the usually peaceful Canada, wanted to kill him before Antarctica could do the honor instead. It was almost comical, to see the mighty and powerful England having such wild mood swings like a young teenager.

"We there?"

"Oui! I can see it!" And indeed, they could see it, in it's glory - the afternoon sun's rays glanced off, basking it in golden light. The tip stretched up into the air, where they had to crane their necks up to vaguely see it. The metal of the structure held steady, inspiring awe and amazement.

Unfortunately, it was swarming with tourists and other such people visiting it. Stopping suddenly, France cursed in another language as they all nearly ran into him.

"D'you know where she'll be?" England asked.

"Non."

"We have to find her, then," he replied grimly. "Alfred, you and Matthew search the tower. Bonnefoy and I will scan the perimeter. Be back in 10." With that, he took France's arm and sprinted away before either of them could argue.

"Well," America said, blinking and taking off his glasses, "guess I'm stuck with you."

"Or I'm stuck with _you,"_ Canada responded. After a moment of awkward silence, he jogged to the base of the tower. America whistled at how large the tower was and admired the view for a few moments before following his brother.

* * *

England didn't find anything too suspicious, unless you counted a creepy mime who looked like he was either being shot at or having a seizure. Either way, it was weird.

"She ain't here, Bonnefoy," England called out, "and at this point I'm starting to question your thinking she's coming for you."

"But she is!" he protested. "I know it."

"Sure, if you say so." Suddenly, they each got a cold, chill in their spines. They looked at each other, then darted toward the base of the Eiffel Tower in unison.

* * *

The scream of America echoed, and Canada felt the air shift. Unfortunately, he was too busy focusing on the gleaming knife at his brother's throat.

"Take one more step," she warned, "and we'll see how long I can make it before your precious Alfred dies." America couldn't offer any suggestions on what to do, as the blade was less than an inch from his soft, vulnerable skin. Stepping back, Canada shifted slightly and pursed his lips.

They had wandered into some weird underground thing - to be honest, he had no clue how they had gotten down here. His brother had just 'miraculously' found some entrance, wandered, and found themselves about to die. A typical day in the life of the North American brothers.

He was sorry to say, she looked insane. Her eyes were greatly dilated, a white dress nearly torn and dirtied, and hair in tangles. At this point, he wasn't quite sure if she was faking it, giving a show for some reason, trying to intimidate him (well, it was sort of working) or actually spiraling into the vast, endless abyss of insanity.

"I don't want to hurt you," he said cautiously, then couldn't remember what he was about to say next. She let out a soft hiss, but didn't speak. He guessed she'd had enough of her monologuing and wanted to cut straight to the killing and taking over the world and whatnot.

"So, how's your day been?" he tried asking, but the words died in his throat, as it usually did whenever talking to pretty girls or when he was nervous. Matthew was going to say more, but then a familiar voice rang out.

"Ari, darling!" France called, undeterred at the knife at America's neck. He rushed over to the brothers and the Continent. However, before any of them could react, she dashed, knife clattering, into the maze of the underground tunnels. England followed close behind France, red in the face.

"My bloody bollocks, you can run fast," he wheezed, but no one was around to hear it. By then, they were all chasing after her.

* * *

France trained his eyes on the Continent, for once not slowing or allowing himself to falter. He had to catch up, he had to…

Somehow, they got out, and she was climbing - to the top of the tower, flight after flight. Not for the first time and certainly not the last, he wondered if there were some kind of way to, I don't know, _not_ take the hundreds of flights of stairs?

He tripped, and Canada flew by him, running gracefully and leaping, taking 2, almost 3 stairs at a time.

Heart pounding, he quickly got up again and came into the same stride as Alfred, who was breathing heavily and looking like he was in immense pain. He held the knife she had before, but with uncertainty, the blade held in front of him - as if he didn't know whether to stab himself or to stab Antarctica. France prayed it was to stab the latter.

The clang of metal against metal rose, and peering above, the girl was several flights ahead. For the first time since they started the whole mission of some sorts, he wondered, ' _Where is she going? And what's she going to do?'_ He hadn't the faintest idea.

He groaned - his leg, which had been previously been pinned to his seat in the helicopter, pulsed. Why now? France set his jaw and grinded his teeth together, bearing his way through the foggy haze of pain. He was vaguely aware of the ground filled with people below him getting just a tiny bit smaller as he made his way up, trailing behind America and Canada, who was in the lead. Still, he had to admit in an almost admiring way, Ari was like a fox - quick, sly, and wasn't going to let anything get into the way of her goal.

* * *

Only a flight above him, Antarctica looked set on making it to the top. Canada wondered why - with labored breaths and his legs starting to tire, he really couldn't think of a very rational explanation for her actions. Of course, nothing about her was really rational.

A yelp occurred above him - looking up, he saw her cursing like a sailor, ripping the dress she had on (again - where did she get that?) from whatever she had gotten it stuck on. Confidence rose just a little inside Matthew, and he closed the gap in half - she continued, this time more panicked, as if she could already see her failure. He sensed his brother below him, racing. He giggled to himself - after all this time, Alfred still trying to be the hero. Then he remembered he didn't have the luxury to laugh and choked on the air.

They were perhaps a meter apart - at the top, he leaped forward, holding on to her ankle, and she fell, face-flat into the metal grate. Around them, at the top of the tower, he could see all of Paris, the gates coming about waist-high on him. She whipped her head back, snarling like a wild animal.

"Get back," she ordered, scrambling up and trying in vain not to notice the scrapes on her forehead and cheeks. Canada, as per usual, didn't speak but did step forward - in a response, she stepped back. Not that big, but big enough to notice. With a startling fact, he saw her hands shake and her breathing more quickly… as if, she was afraid. Of _him._

He dared take a step. She didn't budge. Matthew took a deep breath. "Ari…" The soft tone in his voice made her relax in her shoulders. "Can't you just… stop?" he said not unkindly. Her eyebrows furrowed, as if the thought of not being so power-hungry for the world was unthinkable.

"Look… I know that sometimes, England or France or whoever doesn't always treat you well, but… does it really mean destroying the world? Or ruling it?" He gestured to the crowd below them. "Do you really think, for one second, that they will let you just take over?" No, considering not any of them could even see her, but he wasn't about to mention that. "C'mon," he said, hesitantly holding his hand out, "let's not have to do this." With some thought, she looked at him, and even though he saw her blue, cold eyes, he also saw sadness and solitude. He nodded. She stepped forward, accepting his embrace, and his breath went out of relief.

That was short lived, because the next thing he knew, he was being judo-flipped over the edge of the gate.

His fingers gripped the railing, turning white. She, without a word, smiled thinly and began prying them off - one at a time, the air thickening and time slowing down. He slipped, grabbing onto a tiny bit of flooring. Below, his vision swimmed at the high altitude. He wondered if he would die, if he wasn't directly being killed by another Country or Continent. Unfortunately, Matthew didn't have long before finding that out.

* * *

America dashed up, completing the last of the stairs and finally reaching the top. He coughed and sputtered, pushing up his glasses - still duct-taped - and looked around. Surprisingly, no tourists, though he was sure that it should be swarming with them right now. So why not?

Antarctica stood in front, crouched down. With a jolt, he realized that she hadn't heard them; impossible with all the noise he had been making. Scrambling over to her, he noticed with a horrible conclusion that she was stabbing at Canada's fingers tightly gripping onto the edge for dear life - dangling off the Tower.

Fury raced through his veins. Before long, he flung himself onto the girl, rolling around. As he looked up, the knife still in hand but momentarily useless, he saw she wasn't quite there - as if in a dream, or a nightmarish trance.

They tussled - he kicked up, shoving her off and getting up. They circled, and he grippd the blade tighter. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw France emerge - one glance at the situation, and he positioned himself behind Antarctica, out of her line of sight. America gave an impeccable nod; France tapped Antarctica's shoulder - when she turned around, he punched her in the jaw. She gasped airily, then fell back.

Alfred was leaning over her, the blade poised. He hesitated. Should he kill her now? No more terrorizing, plots to take over the world. No more evil penguins. But did he really have a choice? It was a Continent, after all - sure, a vile, backstabbing creature, but a person nonetheless. Yet, getting rid of her, finally becoming the hero…

He made his choice.

* * *

Canada was finally about to let go - to free himself from the world, and as he was mentally saying goodbye to all the things he loved, two hands appeared, as did a face very similar to his own. His brother took his hands carefully and pulled him up with the strength of something out of this world. He hugged America instantly, and Canada forced back tears as his brother didn't reject it, just stayed still.

* * *

England finally made it up to the top, cursing everything in his life. What he saw was astounding. France looking shell-shocked, America and Canada having a bro-hug, and Antarctica, smeared with blood, not moving.

"Is she," he whispered, and France looked at him, eyes tired.

"No, Arthur, just unconscious, thanks to America. More than she deserves." He flinched at the sound of bitterness in his usually dreamy, romantic brother's tone. Silence.

"So, Alfred," England awkwardly said, "I guess you're the bloody hero after all."

Not looking away from Canada's face, concern on his own, America softly replied, "I suppose so."

"Isn't that what you've always wanted?"

"No. I suppose unconsciously, I've wanted something else. Something more important, though being the hero is pretty awesome."

"Which is…?"

"Having a friend. Someone I can call… 'brother.'"

* * *

 **As you may already see, this story is closing to an end. Surprisingly, this was fairly interesting to write, considering approximately seven months ago I had no clue how I could make any story of mine more than 10,000 words, so thanks guys! I think I'll be writing one, maybe two chapters. Anyways, write, review, whatever, and I shall see you later. :)**

 **-DragonFire0102**


	17. The End

**So, this is it! The final chapter! Though I would have liked to split it up into two, I had no clue how to make either of them longer, so... yeah! Thanks for support on this story, and let us continue on and wrap it up!**

* * *

 _One week later…_

"What is this - this _monstrosity_ you call food? Who did you order from?"

"Vee~ I have to make the pasta next time, good pasta, not wet noodles like Germany makes!"

"This meat taste sucky! I cook better!"

Even after going through so much danger and adventure with the Countries, England still wanted to kill all of them. Unfortunately, that was not a very good possibility, otherwise all of their hard work with Antarctica would have gone in vain.

Shoving his way out of the yelling crowd of apparent food critics, he found his way standing in front of France, who had an attractive blonde he didn't recognize at his side - of course.

"Frog!" he crossly reprimanded, "I told you only the Countries were invited, so you had better get rid of whoever that bloody girl is before I kick you out!"

"Mon ami, don't speak of the lovely lady with such disrespect!" France retorted, stoking the blushing girl's cheek. "And without me, anyways, we would have never put Ari away, so in the end, you owe me."

"I do not! Plus, you probably just met that so called 'lovely lady' less than 24 hours ago! And if you won't go, can you at least get a bloody room? I don't need another celebration party ending up with couples making out."

"Fine, buzzkill, see you later!" He swept the girl off her feet and started up the spiraling stairs.

"And I don't mean my room!" England called after them. Unfortunately, the Country didn't seem to hear him, or even care. He was so going to kill him later, when there would be no witnesses. He still couldn't believe it - even after _all_ their efforts and eventually success in uncovering Antarctica and making sure she couldn't hurt any more Countries and/or take over the world, they were still annoying as ever. Of course, why would he ever think different?

England was about to go ponder off some more of how incredibly stupid and idiotic everyone else was, except America rudely interrupted.

"Yo, dudes, can we call come out to the kitchen?" he requested, raising his voice. "I'd like to say something!" For once, they obliged, much the suspicion of England.

"Okay, peeps," he said once everyone got into the general vicinity, except for France, who was now nowhere to be seen, and Russia, who was running around, being chased by Belarus. "I'd like to say four things before I'll let you all do whatever and stuff. Wait a second, let me get situated." He moved away some of the platters of sandwiches to the countertop, which was already filled with others, and stood atop of the table in his socks.  
"Get off!" England cried, "I don't need you on the table!" Was America _trying_ to kill him? Probably.

"C'mon, old man, live a little!" he retorted, and continued, ignoring the murderous glare of the older nation. "First of all, I would like to thank Iggy for hosting this sweet party and getting everything catered, including McDonald's hamburgers, and didn't bother by trying to cook everything by himself - otherwise, we'd probably all be dead by now." Cheers erupted, and England sputtered about the nickname and the insult to his cooking, even though he knew it pretty much sucked… but just another way of getting rid of his enemies…

"Second of all, on this whole Antarctica thing… I just have to say… don't you think her reaction to the punishment and whatever was absolutely hilarious? Like seriously, I thought she was going to have an aneurysm at that." Everyone burst into loud talking, commenting about everything that had happened, including some not so nice names for the formerly loyal Continent.

"Third of all, thanks so much…" here, everything went silent, sensing America was about to go serious. "I know that she was pretty much planning on taking over every other Country, but it pained me to see mine about to be overrun. Though that probably sounds like incredibly selfish-"

"What do you mean?" Sealand's tinny voice rang out. England had a double take - he hadn't invited him, nor even knew he was still alive, but sure enough, the blue eyed mini-devil was smiling happily next to silent Sweden. When the little non-nation saw the older one looking at him, he stuck out his tongue. "Hero's aren't selfish… are they?"

"Of course not," America laughed, "but sometimes hero's need breaks, don't they? Anyways, I would like to thank everybody for sticking together for once and not murdering each other before getting rid of the traitorous commie."

"Need I remind you, Alfred," England sighed, "that neither Antarctica nor the penguins even followed a Communist society and government."

"But all bad guys are commies, clearly!"

"Nyet!" bellowed Russia, though didn't sound as intimidating due to the fact that his scarf covered his mouth and he was being chased by Belarus, who was yelling "MARRY ME!" Not surprisingly, he had a half drunken bottle of vodka in his hand.

America laughed. "Whale, anyways, that's all-"

"What about the fourth thing?" England questioned.

"The fourth thing?"

"You wanted to say four things, and you only said three. So what else?" His eyes lit up; he slipped off Texas, wiped them clean, and put them on again, grinning.

"Yeah, so… I would also like to give a shout out to someone special, someone who stood by the way and even though I pretty much hated the guy until maybe a few days ago, I probably wouldn't be alive… actually, it would be the other way around. But anyways!" England smiled at his younger brother's flushed face, slightly embarrassed.

"Would you give it up for Matthew? He's the real hero." Everybody clapped - Canada, who wildly flushed from all the attention, was being dragged by Ukraine. She grinned and lifted the young country onto the table (later, when England asked, she had replied that Matthew had been about as heavy as a cat, and he really needed to eat more, he was so skinny). The younger brother bit his lip nervously and waved with uncertainty. The noise in the room got louder with cheers. America winked and put his arm around his younger brother's shoulder.

"Okay, the party has now continued!" he crowed.

"And for the last time, children," England bellowed, "no one is allowed upstairs! Only the main floor and the basement."

"But France was heading upstairs," Macau lightly noted.

"Oh, I'll deal with him soon enough," the other one darkly said, storming away.

* * *

 _20 minutes later…_

England slumped on the couch, stopping to watch the sight of Japan and China trying to beat each other at a game of 'Just Dance.' So far, it looked like none of them were winning, and both Asian countries were saying something incoherent in their native languages. A small crowd surrounded them, and Prussia and America stood off to the side, eager to participate in the next round. He couldn't tell, but he thought he heard them boasting about their own 'awesomeness.'

Hungary was grumbling at his side. Her frying pan was gone, due to England's request of no weapons in his house. "They should have let me beat the livin' sense into Antarctica, she lied!..." England rubbed his eyes.

"For the last time Elizabeta, they would never let you do such a thing! Besides, they did sentence her pretty heavily…"

"Bah!" The intimidating country waved her hand dismissively. "Life imprisoned and loss of title isn't as good."

"Good for you, you didn't make that decision." Before any more unnecessary arguments, he slipped off the couch and made his way out of the room. Weaving his way through some Countries, England opened his patio and closed it, the pulsing beat of the music inside quieting just the slightest.

The night was nice. Even though it wasn't that late into the evening, the sky still was dark, some stars glittering. The moon was shaped in a crescent, glowing luminously. It's light shone on the orchids blooming in his garden.

He made his way to the bench, about to sit down, when a figure in the dark moved slightly.

"What in the - Greece?" The other nation sat up suddenly, stretching. A feline jumped off of his back as he did so and leaped off into the backyard, disappearing over a fence.

"Sorry, fell asleep again," he said sheepishly. "The lull of the music must have lured me…"

"Or you sleep at anything, like Antarctica's trial."

"It was more than 3 hours," Greece proclaimed, "so you can't blame me."

"It was an important moment in our history," England reminded him, "so you should feel ashamed."

"I really don't think I should have to."

"And that's a problem, isn't it?" Instead of responding, the other one sat on the ground by England's feet. He leaned back, crossed his arms, and gazed at the sky.

"Isn't it strange?" he asked. "Above all our turmoil and struggle being helpless, insignificant human beings-"

"I'm really not in the mood, thank you very much, for your philosophical rants."

"So America's right. You really are getting to be an old man."

"Shut it, you git."

"Then listen." Reluctantly, England laid down next to Greece, breathing lightly, and looked up. "Above, you see those lights? What are they to you?"

"I say they are some random things most people called stars."

"Fascinating. You see, they aren't just stars. In fact, they are their own universe. There are millions, billions, trillions of these things you call stars. Each has a story. Above us, the cosmos are constantly changing, supernovas and black holes and planets, and while each human being is the center of their own selves, we are just so small. On a planet, in a galaxy, existing. And one day, years and generations from now, the light of our worlds, the sun, will go out, never to exist. And that is when this planet shall perish, if we haven't already doomed ourselves even further with our existence."

Silence. Then, "It makes you think, doesn't it? About life, the universe, and everything."

England spoke. "So, this is what goes on in your mind, huh?"

"I will admit, it is a battle. Contrary to popular belief, I don't just think about sleeping and cats." They sat for a few more moments, enjoying the moment. Then he stood up.

"Okay, I have to go," England said. "Hate to ruin the moment, but I have to go and make sure no murders occur at my place. After all, it would be sort of hard to explain to some people why I have a dead body in my bathtub, or something like that." Greece waved him off.

"No problem. Hey, if you come back anytime again, could you bring a blanket? It's kinda cold out here…" With that, he promptly fell asleep again. He sighed, then went back inside.

* * *

 _Later!_

"So, I just have to ask, Ari won't be able to hurt us again, ya?" Latvia questioned, looking nervous. England raised his eyebrows.

"Yeah. She won't be trying to take over the world anymore."

"And the penguins will go back to normal?" The older nation resisted giving a sigh of exasperation.

"Yes, they are working on a cure right now. They should go back to whatever they were before Ari got a hand on them."

"You sure?"

"I swear it on my life." Beaming, the younger one bounced off a little.

"You shouldn't make promises you can't guarantee," Germany mentioned in his deep accent, watching the others. "It'll get you into trouble. Some day."

"Yeah, I know. But what am I supposed to do? Shatter everybody's happiness?"

"Nein. Just give them a small nudge towards reality."

"Just a 'nudge?'"

"Fine, how about picking them up and throwing them into the abyss that is reality?"

"That's more like it. But no thanks." They watched some Countries. Some of them were getting out games like Twister. Fantastic; this ought to get interesting.

"So…" the German started. He glanced at the nervous Country.

"What do you want?"

"Uh, Italy wanted me to ask you a question for him…"

"And why couldn't he just ask me himself?"

"I believe the exact words were, 'He's too scary and won't like the question, so why don't you do it? You're scarier and he might listen.'" England chuckled lightly.

"Okay then, what's the question, messenger boy?"

"Uh… when are you going to jump in the ocean?"

"What the bloody - oh no." The memory of the submarine game came back to him. Shoot.

"What does that mean?" Germany questioned.

"It means," he sighed, "that because of a bet, I have to go jump in the Southern Ocean. Before you ask, the bet was that if I won a game of ping pong against Italy, he would have to eat five of my so-called horrible scones, and the other way around, would be, you know. And now I can't go back on my word. Tell him I will, soon." Immediately, the German left to find his little friend. England sat back, biting his lip.

Around him, the Countries were having a blast. Downstairs, he could hear a movie going on, and in the other room, Korea was dominating in the video game competitions. America was having fun doing whatever he was doing, as was Canada and France [shudder]. Meanwhile, other animals roamed, including a giant flock of Gilbird clones, flying around annoyingly.

In other words, it was chaos. But nonetheless, it was his chaos. And that was all that really mattered.

* * *

 _Four days later…_

"Why, just why," England muttered, gazing into the water - though it was sunny, it really didn't help all that much considering there were icebergs everywhere and the water was about 2 degrees Celsius. It was a nice view, though, the way the light bounced off the ice, he had to admit.

Behind him, 40+ Countries stood, waiting for him to dive in. He stood in his regular attire of jeans, a polo shirt, and a jacket, which did pretty much nothing in the cold. The others wore whatever, but it still kept them warm.

"May I remind you I can't even swim?" he said, raising his voice, "so if I start drowning, I'm counting on one of you to save me. In other words, when I die, I would like Germany to be elected to lead all meetings following my death. Also, please don't let Alfred be in charge of writing what's on my grave."

"Chill, bro!" America laughed, crossing his arms. "You won't die. I haven't had enough time to make fun of your old age yet, so no worries!"

"Easy for you to say!"

"Calm down and hurry up, England!" Germany barked impatiently.

"Vee~ yes!" Little Italy sat at the edge of the ice, clothed in a thick coat and boots. He had binoculars for some random reason and had a white flag in his hand, as if… actually, also for no reason whatsoever. "Now jump!"

Glancing back at the water, he gulped. "Can someone give me a countdown?"

"Fine," Germany sighed dramatically. "Three! Two!" Before he could get to one, France rushed out and shoved his brother into the water. With a bunch of curses that made America cover Sealand's ears, he fell in, making a huge splash.

When he came up, England sputtered and grasped the edge, hoisting himself up. His blond hair pasted to his wet skull, and his eyes were clenched together.

"FROG!" he gasped, "I am _so_ going to kill you!"

"Run," Thailand whispered, and France obliged. America amusingly recorded England blindly chasing after the other Country, soaking wet and saying some things that he would probably have to censor out later.

But, in the end, even old England had to laugh at himself, which none of them ever thought he would do. And, as Italy cuddled up to Germany, America holding Sealand in one arm and Canada in the other, and England having a thick blanket wrapped around him, they all smiled. Through tough times, they had defeated everything, against all odds. Antarctica had tried to take over the world, but the world had fought back. And even though most of the time, they felt like murdering each other on a daily basis, none of them would ever trade it for something different.

 _ **The End**_

* * *

 **So yeah, that is the end of the first fanfiction I have written! It was quite difficult, but because other people besides my friends actually liked it, it was great. I know I probably completely botched some of this up, like characters and plot points, but I would like to thank so many of you for your consistent support.**

 **On the other hand, I don't know if there will be another Hetalia Fanfic soon. I had an idea for one focusing entirely around Canada, the earlier years when he was being ignored, so tell me what you think! Even so, I might not post that one for quite a while. But anyways, thanks a lot, considering I hadn't even believed I was ever going to finish this, especially this long (which probably has been my longest story I've ever written. Ever.)**

 ***Notice - while I was going back and reading over this, I realized somehow, in the transition between my docs and this, a scene had been cut out around chapter five. It, unfortunately, was the scene that Canada finally snapped and things did not go well for America. If you haven't seen it, well, either go see it or not, I don't really mind. Either way, I apologize for the inconvenience. :)***

 **Thanks, and (hopefully) I shall see you all again soon! :)**

 **-DragonFire0102**


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